Running through which Indiana Pacers trade rumors do & don’t make sense + Philadelphia 76ers preview

Running through which Indiana Pacers trade rumors do & don’t make sense + Philadelphia 76ers preview

Let’s talk rumors what have we heard about the Pacers potential Maneuvers with the trade deadline two weeks away are they real do they seem not real how are they changed by the sakam acquisition plus plenty more on today’s locked on Pacers podcast you are locked on Pacers your daily Indiana Pacers

Podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day What up y’all happy Thursday and welcome into another edition of the lockon Pacers podcast where are we of course talk about the Indiana Pacers as always my name’s Tony East I cover the team for Forbes NSI and today we’re talking rumors trade deadline is two weeks away two Thursdays from today also Thursday

There’s a lot to catch up on what has the Rumblings been around the Pacers in some external players that they could be interested in how are they related to what the Pacers just did they just got Pascal yakum do these Jive up with what the Pacers did were they before after

That report what could this team do in the coming weeks and who better to talk about it with continuing our tour to Pacers podcasters this week then Alex golden from setting the pace we cut through all that and then talk a little Pacers Sixers because the Pacers are

Playing a guy who scored 70 points ear this week tonight it’s all coming on today’s lockone Pacers podcast let’s just get right to it continuing this week’s theme talking to Pacers podcasters on a Pacers podcast it’s time to talk with Alex golden and we’re going to cover Pacers rumors and the 76ers and

Does this make sense or not for the Pacers and does it still make sense after the Pacers if you didn’t know everybody acquired Pascal cakam Alex thank you for the time how are you are you enjoying the cakam infused Indiana Pacers it’s it’s been a fun wrinkle to

Watch I’m glad the Pacers have passed scal yakum without Tyrese halberd I mean it would definitely be a lot worse I think if we did not have SE yakum out there it’s it’s a little bit different watching him play in a Pacer’s uniform compared to a Raptor’s uniform still

Getting used to that but yeah I’m uh I’m excited about what the future looks like with Pascal seaka on this team I saw him sign two jerseys in his uh gamebridge debut and one was a raptor Jersey so I still have the Raptor jerseys fresh in

My mind yeah it’s it’ll be exciting to see him play with halberton their last game before the trade they lost by uh 27 points I think people have seem seem to have forgot that that gave happen not they’re not playing well but it’s still um let’s talk some trade rumors there

Have been quite a few which makes sense for them right they they had and still probably have a lot of depth maybe too much they had and kind of still have they have a lot of extra second rounders they have young Talent they had cap space they still have flexibility in

Some ways so of course they’re going to be thought of in lots of ways they could be active on the trade market now that has changed quite a bit they have three viewer first so they don’t have BR Brown they don’t have Jordan MOA but there’s still some interesting dynamics of the

Pacers to cut through so we’re going to run through these we’re going to talk about if this report came out before after the SE yakum trade and then does this make sense as something the Pacers could or should explore are you ready Mr Goen I am I think I’m ready for this you

Think I think we’ll see what we’ll see what names are out there okay well most of oh well we’ll start on the internal side okay uh this was from hoopsy our good friend Michael Scot friend of the setting the pace podcast Michael Scot uh reported about Buddy hee and said that

The Pacers would like to keep buddy heeled and have a high asking price for him in a trade this was from I believe late November uh the full quote is similar when Miles Turner was entering a contract season it was coveted by other teams the Indiana Pacers went to keep

Guard buddy heeld have a high asking price for teams interested in acquiring him uh that matches what Chad Buchanan said you were there before the season budy somebody we love having on our team we want to keep him this year uh the high asking price made sense now I think

I’ll go first just to insert some cap stuff here this makes more sense now than it did when this report came out to me because right this second January 24th the trade dead 25th for you guys listening the trade deadlines in two weeks he’s on an expiring contract after

The deadline the Pacers relinquish control of the situation yes they could still sign to an extension yes they could still resign him if Buddy heeld has to agree to that if they trade him that is a unilateral Pacers decision but his salary slot is now very important

They’re over the cap they’re going to be for a long time they have no way to replace his salary on their team either without trading him for a player of equal value or resigning him to a contract and so he now is in a better at least extension financial position so I

Think having a high price for him makes almost more sense because that high price should include either a salary that’s long about his level or they would need to get quite a good asset to just give him up and not get as much salary in return but I understand

Contractually why they have to think about him and he’s in another report later so some push and pull here that will be fun to talk about yeah I mean I I think that it makes a lot of sense and you could have made the case maybe he

Should have been in included in in the Toronto trade instead of a Bruce brown but then you have to find some extra money to get enough salary to make that deal happen without giving up a ton so I do understand why they didn’t do that but you know Caitlyn Cooper’s been

Pretty adamant that she’s excited about how SE yakum and heel can fit together and how that worked that one game when halberton was healthy Portland I mean we saw the starters just dominate in that game so six threes for heel yeah yeah it’s a it’s a pretty small sample size

It’s a one game sample size but I think the Pacers like they do value buddy heeld a lot and I think the way their offense plays he is so good in that and Rick Carlile you know he he’s got a little bit of a crush on budy Hill

There’s no doubt about it I mean just the way he plays the way he gets the offense moving like nobody else really does it on this team so I I get why they have your your point about the salary and going with the bird rights and that

Kind of stuff with the c it all makes sense because you do want to have a bigger contract to trade I mean for crying out loud look at the Knicks they’re still holding on to Evan Foria in case a deal pops up for them so it

Just makes a lot of sense you don’t want to have to put together like four or five rookie contracts to make a deal happen you do want to have a vet that makes a good amount of money and we’ll see what kind of contract buddy hild

Wants long term I think that’s the only hiccup here for me with whether they keep him or not past the deadline it just depends on how much he wants and if they’re willing to pay that but if it’s around what he’s making now I’m seems like it’d be a prettyy good fit

Moving forward and for all the reasons that you listed already yeah of course his future shot be value valuable in a trade but like assuming he just make up a number whatever you think it is 15 1720 million player assuming he is that level of player that’s higher than the

Mid-level exception so they literally cannot get that quality of player outside of players with bird rights right so it’s him he’s better than any free agent they could get so yes you’re you’re absolutely right that that would be valuable in potentially a trade but it’s also valuable to have a player who

Can be thought of as that good I don’t know exactly what he thinks his value would be but I mean I think that his salary now especially in the current cap climate is about fair right 19 20ish million makes sense to me uh going forward for him if his shooting

Continues to struggle we’ll see but I think that makes sense what is a high asking price exactly as this report suggests that’s where I don’t know because in the absence of an extension no one no one’s trading a first round pick for buy heill right there’s only

Two and a half months left in the season unless there’s bad salary attached to that so I don’t know what a high asking price is anymore this was really early in the season but I think that’s the part that doesn’t necessarily pass the smell test for me I think he has

Positive value of course but either way the other and we we won’t go straight to Buddy heeld again we’ll jump over to a report that we got from two different groups I believe Hoops hype with Michael Scott was one and uh Jake fiser at Yahoo sports was the other TJ McConnell being

Monitored by other teams for trade and this is way after last summer where there was a lot of reports about the Phoenix Suns being a very interested team the problem with that is uh there’s no there’s no legal way for the Suns to acquire him via trade if they’re going

To keep Grayson Allen um obviously McConnell has this early in the season he didn’t have a role for the Pacers but has earned one he playing now there’s less guards so he’s probably going to play all the time um this was before the Pas gal trade similar to the the first

One we talked about um the first report from Hoops High po point guard T.J McConnell is another player rival executives are seeking in the back our monitoring and Jake fiser said backup Flor General T.J McConnell has drawn ongoing injuries from playoff teams in search of Greater backup help Alex does

This make sense to you it makes sense that teams went TJ McConnell but I did listen to Jake Jake fiser talk on a podcast and he said yeah the Pacers are pretty much like yeah you’re not getting our little TJ McConnell it’s gonna take a lot and that made me laugh because

Jake was just cracking me up when he said it but I think T.J McConnell has just proven his value to this team this year it made a lot of sense if if halberton and Imart are healthy and he was one of the guys on the outside of

The rotation early on in the season clearly wasn’t a part of Rick’s you know ninan rotation that he had thought of even said at one point like I’m not GNA play 10 guys just to play 10 guys like Rick even said that to us in the media

So I kind of thought okay the writing is on the wall here with McConnell especially since he’s got that partial guarantee for next year around five million so but this year Andrew nimart has had so many injuries and then Tyrese having this injury it’s like man heav

McConnell has been huge for this team so I I think that he just means so much not only to what he does on the floor but in the locker room and just having that veteran leader I don’t think the Pacers trade TJ McConnell whatsoever uh unless

They got like a really nice deal I just think that he means more to them than he probably would to a lot of other franchises because of the leadership role that he has with his team and you can even see the impact that he had on a

Rookie like Ben Shepard just the other night and and Shepard talking about it that and the way he was giving him so much love and and the press conference I just TJ McConnell it’s hard to it’s hard to imagine him not being with Indiana yeah okay a lot of interesting

Specifics about this like one neither of them said like the Pacers are interested in trading him right very clearly and and so with Buddy you think about he’s on an expiring deal they have to think about it you know with with TJ that’s not the case he’s got a partially

Guaranteed contract next year but he’s he’s earned that money and they both say uh uh rival Executives seeking help are monitoring or you know other teams are interested in acquiring yeah that makes sense because he’s good right so like conceptually early in the season when he wasn’t in the rotation maybe You’ think

About this dly right if you’re trading your 12th guy who’s not playing is just a vet and you’re getting value back yes maybe that’s something you consider doing but also the pass Scout trade happened and Bruce Brown’s on the team anymore so like there is a rotation spot

For T.J McConnell every game now and it’s not saying the Pacers are shopping him and he has earned minutes for this team this would have at at parts of the Season been something I’m like yeah okay that passes a smell test I get it now I’m like no they should that that

Doesn’t seem like something they would do yeah no and I agree I mean it he means too much to this team and other teams are going to want him Rick Carlile called him one of the best backup point guards in the NBA I think it was the other night maybe against Sacramento

Just had a great game in that one and you know it just he’s healthy I mean for the most part in his career he’s been kind of a guy that doesn’t usually get hurt I think what was it his wrist a couple of years ago where he missed a lot of time so

That’s not something you usually see from McConnell and it’s just the energy that he brings so makes sense why other teams would want him but you know when when J Michael was still here covering this team I remember he said that I don’t know if Rick’s gonna really love

T.J McConnell because he’s not a three-point shooter and that might be part of the problem with how Rick wants to play as offense but then I think like a couple of months in is like oh we can’t trade this guy so um I feel like it’s just McConnell’s gonna be a Pacer

As long as his contract runs and and and just really the point guard situation is tough because you got three guys obviously that are in the rotation there but being being able to play Andrew nard at the two really does I think give Rick a little bit more flexibility with

Having McConnell in the rotation and it makes a lot of sense to kind of keep him instead of trying to okay we got to move off of I agree with all that uh this one if they traded him I would get it but the value would have to be of a certain

Extent or I wouldn’t get it hey guys have to really quickly take a break to talk to you about the lovely folks over at grammarly when it comes to riding grammarly is there to support you from start to finish they’ve been around for over 10 years and you can trust them

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For a first deposit match up to $100 at prize piix daily fantasy sports Made Easy number three here un lock on Pacers as we continue the room around up uh this one from Hoops hype again late the context here one pre Pascal kakum trade two late December right after the

G-league Showcase which is very relevant to the rest of this discussion uh some with within the NBA are curious if the Indiana Pacers would part with rookie forward jerus Walker again this is from Michael Scot the exact quote is Indiana’s jarus Walker the number eight pick of the draft seemingly fits the

Mold of a young controllable asset with upside that Toronto likes and his lack of front Court rotational minutes has some around the league wondering if Indiana would part with him however funnily enough we have since learned from other insiders including Mark Stein and W on threads I had to go to threads

To get information for the first first time in my life uh that this is maybe not the case Mark Stein’s quote was it’s believed the Pacers while undeniably active are eluant to part with two of their most promising and pursued players if they can avoid it Benedict Ma and Ori

Jarus Walker wo on thread said I think the Pacers are very very determined not to include jerus Walker in any trade so this one is all about the wording because what Scot said is other teams and front offices wonder if they would part with jerus Walker Mark Stein and

Wooder saying no and I think one Mark Stein’s report was right before uh like a couple days before the seak trade I think one we have evidence from that trade that yes they clearly do want to keep jarus walker uh and two makes a lot of sense that a team that has picked

Inside the top nine or the single that you picked twice since 1989 would want to keep those guys that’s their Highest Potential assets they have in the organization so to me I understand and this does pass a smell test that other teams would wonder if they would move J

Walker uh it does not pass this SM test to me that they would trit jerus walker unless they’re getting someone amazing and then it has to be a slam dunk but outside of like the biggest upgrade ever it doesn’t make sense to me so I think all this reporting while interesting the

Wording is very important that I don’t think the PTI will move I will say that having threads I I don’t ever get on it but I do get on on Wednesdays when w does do his Q&A just because he does ask I mean he a totally different guy on

Those yeah so he’s he actually pushed it back to tomorrow or Thursday so if you’re listening to this on Thursday W pushed it back from Wednesday to Thursday so if you’re listening you have a chance to ask W trade questions jarus Walker questions if you want because I I

Saw that today on threads because I really only got on there for W’s uh Q&A and I was like I wonder if he threw out any rumors today if I missed anything I was just checking and then he said let’s do it tomorrow but um yeah so anyway

Yeah jarus Walker I mean everybody in Pacer land probably thought okay it’s gonna take a lot to get jarus here from the Pacers I mean for them to move off of him this early would be very premature so even though Toronto would clearly covered him in a trade I mean we

We saw what the value of Pascal SE yakum was and there was no better offer rout there apparently on the table in one that Pascal wanted to agree to because he does kind of have a little bit of control knowing he is a free agent in

The summer so that did play a little bit of a factor into it but yeah I mean I would be shocked if jerus Walker is moved anytime soon I think that like you said if it’s the right deal and there’s a great player out there they can get

Makes some sense if they’re trying to kind of push the chips in a little bit more but Tony one thing I love about jarus Walker is you know what a great you know getting Pascal yakum is so good for jarus because yeah now he can just

Kind of be under his wing for the next three four years hopefully once once Pascal resigns his you know his contract extension or he agrees to a Max whatever but if if jarus can kind of just learn from him and then by the time that deal

Runs out with pas down he’s like 34 35 past his prime jarus kind of hopefully steps right in and you don’t really have too much there to worry about in terms of losing a uh taking a step back at the power forward spot so I I think that it

Makes a lot of sense just to keep jarus especially knowing you got Pascal on the roster agreed hey you know who’s playing in the G League a lot this year as a first round pick jarus Walker you know who played in the g- league a lot when

They were young and is now a Pacer Pascal seaka and I think if you’re the Pacers and you like clearly they picked him they like him if you like jerus Walker you still value him as a seventh eth whatever overall pick you have to treat him like that in a trade even if

He’s not playing that much for your team so makes a lot of sense to me next up we return to Buddy heeld the flip side of this this one the timing again critical this came out from Mark Stein on January 14th which is important because that is

Three days before before they traded for Pascal seaka Mark Stein reported that the Pacers are assembling potential trade packages around buddy heeld and a future first round draft pick the exact quote the Pacers League sources say have been building trade offers around a package of Buddy heeled and a future

First round pick we don’t have to do too much on this because we already talked about the reasons to think about Buddy heal’s future but this one makes sense in that if you think heal as like early second late first value with with crappy money coming back if you use him plus a

First maybe you could get something like oh cool but now that they’ve traded three first I’m like no that that that’s not worth it so this could have been something that made sense for them espe especially as a way to use your expiring contract asset to get something really

Good but now given the sakam trade that this doesn’t make as much sense as it did at the time that markstein put this out yeah I would agree with that I think that maybe they were trying to find a package that made sense ver SE yakum too

You never know I mean that’s the thing yes could have been a three- team deal whatever we saw them get the Pelicans involved so obviously there was talks outside of just Toronto and Indiana for this deal to happen I mean I think Buddy Hill’s always going to be an interesting

Name just because he isn’t expiring the contra they did not agree to before the year that ises probably a little bit worrisome just because you don’t want them to walk for nothing but at the same time you can probably offer more money than other people want you can also

Which I didn’t bring up earlier you could utilize buddy hildon a sign and trade in the summer if that’s something they want to do as well and uh we’ve seen how a lot of teams have done that because he might want to go to a team that doesn’t have cap space because it

Looks like right now aside from Philadelphia and Orlando a lot of teams that have cap space aren’t going to be very good so right that doesn’t sense for Buddy Hill to want to go get paid and go there because he wants to win I think he actually really enjoys being

Here from every interaction I’ve had with him it just seems like it’s a good fit but yeah I don’t I don’t know exactly what uh what kind of package they’d be looking for but I think now at this point it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense yeah like B Dan bonovich I

Guess but they already have lots of guards and they had Bruce Brown at the time this came out or like I don’t know bov is very bonovich is very interesting to me um because his contract I think it’s for another like three four years after this

And is it is it declining too per year it is so that that’s helpful as well and I think he can do a little bit more than heal offensively I agree leading I think I was just looking at like Wing is types around his salary range right like that

Would be the move to do that I don’t even know if you consider Bogden Wing but that’s why you would have done that but now that they’re out three first that makes way less sense that is not something they should yeah as aggressively pursue one more break here we got to

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Episode of the uh no cap room podcast with Jake fiser but uh an aggregator here called underscore trade deadline uh has it for us with a click in it from Jake fiser that said this is a January 11th is when this tweet is so that is again pre Pascal seak trade I keep

Hearing Andrew wiggin’s name attached to Indiana and then another part of the quote is I know that Jonathan kuminga was another player was another Warriors player that the Pacers have been keeping tabs on and calling Golden State about dating back to last draft we heard kuminga rumors last year Wiggins is a

Wing PRI yakum this made sense honestly I like both of those players a little bit so maybe it does a little um it’s harder with Wiggins now because of their financials right like he’s got to be good Wiggins yeah for the Pacers to want him kuminga is a young forward of course

He want that but you have jarus you have Obie you have Pascal you have Aon n Smith so presumably you have to give up one of them to make it make any sense so I think getting them if you can at the right PR especially Wiggins he can play

The three pretty well makes sense but again the trade they’ve made now the assets they’ve sent out the stret for their team it makes less sense than it did when it came out N I give that an depending on how I mean I think Andrew Wiggins makes sense in theory if he can

Be what you want him to be but he’s just so inconsistent right that if he was what you want him to be there’s be no reason Golden State would be trading him right right so I mean I’ve had a lot of conversations with people about Andrew

Wiggins Rett Bower is one that is you know pretty interested in in Wiggins and I don’t know maybe maybe a flyer like trading buddy and maybe Obi top in salary for Andrew Wiggins and if they had to attach some kind some some type of draft pick to that maybe kaminga is

Not involved but if they gave it a pick back would that make some sense for Indiana to get an extra pick moving forward that they could use and and maybe hope that Wiggins fits in I just I know you guys talked about the salary

With h when he had Miller time pot on so it does get a little bit heavier there the next couple of years but he is a wing he can he showed that he can play really good basketball he just can Carlile pull it out of him is everything

That just it’s so chaotic in Golden State it’s hard to tell so I don’t I don’t really know exactly but I it’s it’s a little intriguing I’m not overly excited about it but you have my attention a little bit I think Kingo is really good but one I don’t I don’t get

Why the Warriors would trade him I keep reading these reports about this I’m like this makes no sense he’s good now and they have no future like they need a good young player it doesn’t make sense even if he wants to not be there they’re gonna be like okay sorry like I don’t

Know it just doesn’t make sense Wiggins I get it because he’s not playing well and they need to be better he’s currently averaging his fewest points per 36 of his career oh career he’s shooting under 30% on threes 47.5% on Tuesday is his lowest since his final

Season in Minnesota uh it’s just hard to justify the contract if he’s not better than that if he’s closer to even last year Wiggins that was not as good as title Wiggins but was still good yeah maybe but it just it’s just really hard to to concoct this without knowing what

The asset return would be on top of him MH current contract status it’s a negative contract right now and it would not be kuminga or moody or any of the young guys so it’s it’s just hard especially now they have pascala makes a lot less sense to me so fails the smell

Test Tony says yeah I mean I agree with you on that I don’t think there’s much more to add to that I just I can’t see kaminga Moody really leaving Golden State I I think that it’s more like people trying to hopefully push them out of there by

Reporting like stuff that you just never know some people just like throw stuff out there I’m not saying that these guys reporting it are wrong but it does feel like there are some guys out there that throw stuff out on Twitter that don’t really know what they’re talking about

And that’s where you have to be careful with aggregating and stuff but yes I I don’t necessarily believe that it was it was probably more of a similar situation to the Rival executives are keeping an eye on kaminga and Moses Moody because hey if those guys became available why

Wouldn’t you be excited about maybe trying to get one of them agreed okay would you like to be zany or realistic next those are our last two one is stupid and ridiculous and one is realistic let’s let’s be realistic and then get zany at the end okay we’ll be

Realistic first Michael Scot again on Hoops side this reported after the SE yakum trade the first one by a day and a half uh this is another rival Executives so bear with me but it’s a good one to me mostly because I think it passes the smell test to the highest degree Michael

Scott reports this is again after the acquisition of Pascal seak the result creates a log Jin within Indiana’s front court with jayen Smith topen and Walker completed for a limiting playing time behind seak notably Isaiah Jackson also one of those players given Indiana’s new found front Court conundrum and the

Notion outside the organization that heeld would eventually be moved to give Ma and nard and Shepard more playing time looking ahead rival Executives believe the Pacers could make another trade to bolster their team before the deadline he doesn’t say specifically that the Pacers could be trading a front

Court player Michael Scot does not say that here just that they could bolster their team but they have too many front Court guys now right one of their centers isn’t going to play jarus hasn’t been playing when they’re healthier now they have shakum toping and Walker so to

Me that is be Beyond buddy and his expiring and what they’re thinking there that is the most interesting thing for the this totally passes a smell test to me because that is the most interesting thing about the Pacers to me in the next two weeks heading up to deadline do they

Do something with this front court because all those guys are young and and can play in a rotation for them or for another team and would presumably have interest around the league I don’t know how much value they have I don’t know how the Pacers rank them in their

Contracts because Jaylen Smith could be a free agent this summer Obi toppen will be a free agent this summer but that passes the smell test and is the most interesting plot line to me for the Pacers team how do they sort out the reserve front Court they kept jarus

Clearly they like him so how do they sort all this out what’s their move yeah it feels like the riding is on the wall for Obi toppen just because they didn’t trade a whole lot to get him they drafted jarus Walker and then they trade for Pascal SE yakum obviously those two

Guys are at the top of the line in terms of what they gave up value-wise for those two positions and then at one point you know the last before they acquired SE yakum Jaylen Smith was starting at Power Forward over Obi toppen as well because it was a better

Fit and he’s a better Defender better rebounder so I just feel like with Obi top and being a restricted free agent are they gonna want to pay him a lot of money to bring him back I don’t necessarily think they will it depends on what the money like what the number

Is if it’s around like8 to9 million I mean that’s not a bad contract at all for a guy that’s serviceable I think you know he’s been okay he fits the system pretty well with what they’re trying to do he seems like a good locker room guy

Everybody seems to really like him so it does make sense but I I think that they they would be kind of smart to test the waters a little bit and see what they could get for Obi toop and I just don’t think he’s going to have a ton of value

Considering what they had to give up to get him it was pretty much nothing yeah like the worst of a couple of second round picks so it’s like yeah that doesn’t scream like oh he’s got a ton of value and then you throw in Isaiah Jackson in the mix as well he probably

Doesn’t play in the game against Denver if Jaylen Smith is healthy so that kind of makes you wonder okay what’s the long-term picture there because it’s not a bad thing to have depth that your Center position between Jaylen Isaiah and miles but it feels like you want to

Try to find playing time for all of them and I think that was also part of the reason why Jaylen Smith was starting at the four because Isaiah played so good in those backup minutes so can Isaiah and Jaylen play together is a big question mark that I’m not necessarily

Sure they can but um if it’s limited time sure but I just think they need to kind of and maybe the front office kind of has to do this trade Obi toppen so it can create a little bit more of an Avenue for jarus Walker to maybe get

More minutes than he is already um it feels like Carlile has been impressed with Walker when he has played um especially recently on that road trip but we we’ll see kind of how they feel about him moving forward with their rotation spot but it it it wouldn’t hurt

Me it wouldn’t hurt them to me to just kind of explore that a little bit Yeah toen is fascinating I he’s the same name I would think of because his value is pretty low and they got him but it was an opportunistic trade it made sense and

He’s been good he’s been a better shooter than I thought he’s fitting well with their offense he’s been a better rebounder right like he’s a better player but not only is you know you you think about like his qualifying offer at like almost eight million he just take

That like is he a $10 million guy even if you think he’s worth that money which maybe he is he’s been good he’s still young then they have to think about the tax you know and it’s like do you really want to like have to think about moving salary elsewhere just to

Keep this guy maybe you do again he’s played well for them but then jarus is right there and Isaiah’s right there and then Isaiah Jackson the thinking to me is like if you have three centers and one’s not playing their value to you is less than it would be somewhere else but

Is the value of are you getting enough back in a trade to just have a vet third guy who doesn’t play that much right like that that’s the push and pull so I think they’re sorting out their front court is fascinating and they could you know Jaylen Smith could opt out in four

Five months from his contract and then he’s a free agent and how do you want to handle that if you’re the Pacer so there’s just a lot of there’s a lot being juggled there that they they kind of could do a lot and I would get it but

I don’t know exactly how they would figure out what to do or what the best move is but it does stand to reason what this report says that that or at least what rival Executives would that they would at least consider it or have to think about that let’s get zany are you

Ready to get zany I’m Ready the zany thing that everybody has has referred to or muttered there’s this guy in the Clippers who has not signed an extension yet who used to play for the Indiana Pacers his name is uh his name is Paul George uh Mark Stein reported on uh

January 16th so that is right before uh or maybe that was the day of the the seum trade he said um talking about Paul George after the Leonard extension the Clippers are now widely expected to sign Paul George to an inseason contract extension and then the next paragraph

Says georg’s free agency had the potential to be one of next Summer’s most interesting story lines with both Philadelphia and pg-1 13’s old friends in Indiana believe to be interested in pursuing him and then on the trade deadline again didn’t listen to this aggregator Twitter account I apologize

If this is not something that was actually uttered but that’s all this account does is aggregate stu um Jake fiser regarding tyres Halbert and Paul George they were intrigued from my understanding about the idea of playing together do I think Paul George is ever going to be a Pacer again no I don’t

Does he make a lot of sense because he’s a good fit heck yeah he’s an amazing player uh this does not pass the smell test because it doesn’t make sense to me that PG would leave LA but hey two people reported it so I’m gonna bring it

Up to you and then we’ll be done with that yeah I feel the same way as you but at the same time like what what a story if he would were to come back come back to Indiana play with Tyrese like just think about it this way

The guy that kind of turned his back on the Pacers you know that that trade of Paul George ended up getting the Pacers Tyrese Halbert and if he’s the reason why that guy that wanted to leave you came back to team up with them and then

Help you have a run in the Eastern Conference I think that could be really fun and I mean Paul George is playing great basketball still it’s not like he’s playing bad basketball I know he’s on the he’s like 33 34 right now so it’s he is getting closer to the end of his

Career but I mean he’s got a couple of years left in them of good basketball but yeah I mean with kawhai reigning and upping up La no way but it is nice to dream it’s nice to dream but that’s the kind of player the Pacers need that’s

For sure let me let me just say I did it I checked the Box talked about Paul George don’t have to do it anymore it’s over I’ve covered it no one has to hear about this anymore and now with the yaka trade it’s like impossible they won’t

Have cap space they can’t trade for like okay we’re done okay the serious thing the Pacers have a game tonight Alex I don’t know if you heard or you live under a rock uh but the SE 76ers are in town and their best player uh broke a franchise record set by one Wilt

Chamberlain this week and scored 70 points in one game Mr joam be did and Wilt scored a 100 for a Philadelphia franchise but wasn’t the 76ers I hate this little this asterisk isn’t sitting right with me either way Dan embiid’s insane uh just just for a minute or two

Do you have any thoughts on the 76ers game what will take for the Pacers to and this losing streak can beat that team it’s going to be a tough matchup I mean we know that Joel embiid is one of the toughest players to guard in the league period Tyrus Maxi’s having a

Great year so far and I’ll just put it out there if Nicholas Batum is healthy it’s gonna be tough for the Pacers he is a pacer killer for whatever reason Kelly UB Jr same thing I feel like the Pacers didn’t have to face him last time because he was dealing with the bike

Accident when they when they played the double header there in Philadelphia a couple of months ago during the inseason tournament game but I think it’s going to be tough I’m hoping the Pacers the Pacers have actually competed pretty well uh B since they’ve gotten Pascal even without Tyrese too like they were

In that Suns game they were in that Nuggets game can they just pull one out because Philadelphia they’re starting a five-game road trip I believe so you know you were hoping maybe this is on the tail end of that road trip but it’s at the beginning obviously embiid just

Had 70 points against the Spurs hopefully he ran out of makes and and made them all in that game that’s one of your only hopes I think but Indiana it’s going to be a tough game I think it’s going to be an uphill battle there’s a reason why Philadelphia is so good this

Year and I I think I I would say that I think Philadelphia wins this game but I think the Pacers will compete hard I mean they’ve done that all season long against better competition too so I’m not going to count them out like if they won it wouldn’t surprise me this Pacer

Team winning without Tyrese wouldn’t surprise me but it’s a really good Philly team yeah I’d say the only like non-competitive Pacers games all season without Tyrese in Boston but without Tyrese in Utah and then that freaking Orlando Magic game that was just like holy cow maybe the magic are

Amazing they’re now they’re a in these okay so when the Pacers beat the Sixers earlier this season embiid was embiid whatever he had 39 12 six and three that looks made up Tyrese Maxi they slowed him down after Maxi had 50 the first time he still had 27 but it took him 23

Shots he had four turnovers that was critical right because they they could live with Harris they could live with Melton they did really well on Maxi and none of the rooll guys were amazing so one slowing Max is’s Key to me if he gets in the paint and is scoring or is

At least efficient they have no chance because embiid’s gonna kick there but even in the win embiid kicked their butt and Miles Turner fouled out in 19 minutes right and Turner had 17 points he had a good fourth quarter that night but yeah that’s crucial to me slowing

Down Tyrese Maxi think two they’re gonna need someone to be awesome you like halberton was amazing in that game that was the start of his like oh this guy never turns the ball over stretch of the season but uh 17 for Turner with a big fourth quarter Bruce Brown had a nice

Night of scoring TJ McConnell had 11 points efficiently and Obi toppen was amazing he had 27 and he only made one three right so they’re going to need those kind of knights and chakum of course is a new infusion in this maybe he can replicate some of halber and stat

Line but they’re gonna need like five for eight from Deep from two guys probably and N Smith likely one of them because he’ll play a lot so it’s tough I agree with you but they they have a chance they’ve been close with these contenders that they’ve lost through the

Last two games they’ve been winning in the final three minutes of both but I I do not assume the Pacers will ever beat Joel embiid but maybe this would be like the Bucks where I just said I don’t think the Pacers will ever beat Giannis and then they beat him four or five

Times this year So eventually maybe that will change I don’t see the Pacers winning do you have any other thoughts on this game no I will just say this I looked up Pascal siakam’s numbers when we were talking against Philadelphia he had 11 points and 10 points in two games

And then one game he had 31 so if we get the 31 Point Pascal there’s a little bit of hope that was the most recent one on December 22nd right so he actually had 12 free throw attempts so don’t know if that’ll ever happen in a Pacers uniform

For Pascal based on how he’s been officiated so far the first couple of games but I I think that he has some opportunities here to kind of familiarity with with Philadelphia maybe that does help a little bit Yeah other than that you you’re right though they

Got to stop Maxi I think he’s kind of U obviously you know embiid is is the main guy but Maxi man if he killed the Pacers in that first game I think being able to slow him down a little bit in the second game was what helped and Obi Topp and

Had a great game in that second game I think that might have been his best game as a Pacer I think he had 26 points like 13 rebounds he was just phenomenal and I I’ll never forget Joel and be looked so gassed in that in that quarter into the

Fourth quarter he was so tired against Indiana and I think if they can just run that’s one of the one of the reasons or one of the reason one of the points they can use to get get ahead of Philadelphia is just use that to their advantage

Because making Joel run for 48 minutes is that’s that’s one way to wear him down I I think that it’s not going to be easy but that’s what you got to do agreed it’ll be a fun one we’ll have all the coverage here un locked on Pacers

You know where else you can find coverage of the Pacers and Pacers Sixers and Pacers trade stuff the setting the pace podcast hosted by Alex gold and FY Alex where can people find you and your voice and words covering the Pacers yeah I really appreciate it you can find us

On Twitter at setting the pce 3 I’m at Alex golden NBA and our podcast is wherever you get your podcast you know post game videos will be on YouTube we’re not always on YouTube like this show here but um you know we we try to

As much as we can I want to see your face every day Alex every day people would love that I think you know I’ve got a I’ve got a radio face for sure but you know it’s it’s a lot of fun I think talking about the team is gonna be fun I

Won’t be on that podcast after the game F’s doing that one um without me but it’ll it’ll also be good coverage for you guys so make sure you check it out I’ll be at the game on on Thursday as a fan enjoying that one so hopefully we

Get a win should be fun should be fun looking forward to talking about it a little bit of suns tomorrow as well unless something crazy happens and requires to recover hope you all enjoy today’s show if you think we missed a rumor that is from someone credible I

Should have said that earlier there are a lot of un not credible people that I will not be talking about here let me know so I can talk about it if not we’ll be talking trade deadline stuff next week got some guests lined up for it already thank you all for listening have

A wonderful day we’ll see you soon

The NBA Trade Deadline is in two weeks. What trade rumors have there been about the Indiana Pacers (outside of Pascal Siakam)? Do they make sense? Host Tony East is joined by Alex Golden from Setting The Pace to break it down and talk about Pacers vs Philadelphia 76ers.

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