Indiana Pacers trade deadline preview with ESPN’s Bobby Marks

Indiana Pacers trade deadline preview with ESPN’s Bobby Marks

It’s February the NBA trade deadline is in one week what do the Pacers need to consider after making their big move earlier this month what are all the things that could be coming for them this week who better to talk about that than ESPN front office Insider and

Former Nets executive Bobby marks will get to all of it today on the 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

Lockdown Pacers podcast where we of course talk about the Indiana Pacers as always my name’s Tony East night cover the team for Forbes and Si and today really fun show coming it’s February it’s trade deadline month it’s Thursday the trade deadline in exactly a week so

That is of course the topic uh of the day and who better to dive into the trade deadline with than ESPN front office Insider and former Nets executive Bobby marks we get at everything how the Pascal yakum trade changes how the Pacers had to think about their team in

Their moves they have more expectations now they have more urgency to win now what’s that going to look like we talk about the expiring contracts with the ptients need to think about with guys who could be free agents this summer their second round picks with those could mean their crowded front court all

Sorts of key topics heading into the deadline Bobby’s Insight so appreciated he’s been there done that and knows this stuff like the back of his hand really fun podcast you will learn a lot today let’s just Dive Right In with ESPN’s Bobby marks we’ve got ESPN front office Insider former Net’s front

Office Personnel leader I don’t know I don’t know if you have so many jobs what you prefer from your nets days it’s Bobby Marks here to talk Pacers ahead of the trade deadline February right around the corner Bobby how are you are you keeping your head above water with the

Many things going on uh around the league these days you know this is one of those times where I wished I lived on the west coast right because of the um you know the last thing you want to do is wake up at like two in the morning

And then have like a trade notification and you’ve missed what has happened fortunately there hasn’t been outside of you know certainly the Pascal trade which happened like kind of like around lunchtime um you know it and OG was right around New Year’s Eve um we have

Not had any of those middle of the night the James Harden type trades that we saw back in uh October 31st November 1st here so uh but we’ll probably get active as as you know everybody kind of reacts a little bit differently when there’s a there’s a deadline um that you’re faced

With and certainly how some of these new rules are going to have effect where it’s kind of like you know a lot of these teams are likeing to use it or lose it when you’ve got cash to send or trade exceptions to use and uh and all

That and uh and certainly losing doesn’t help either losing you know that that’s why I would say like it’s it’s um you know inseason trades um you know there’s a little more pressure because in the offseason everybody loves loves a roster you know and in season you you know you

Just lost by 20 the night before and you’re like oh my God I need to go out and get a point guard now and stuff like that so um but yeah looking forward to uh the deadline on February 8th I’ll never forget being in Illinois for a

Family 4th of July event and the 3:00 a.m. Kawhi Leonard trade notification when the Clippers was crazy if I was in LA for that it would have been a lot better yeah I mean we were in Bristol um W and I were in Bristol for that and it

Was we my God I pulled an all nighter you know I hadn’t pulled an all nighter since College um and as far as that was um that was you know that summer of 19 with Durant and Irving going to Brooklyn and then um kawhai trade um kaai signing

Paul George trade like you know that was a c waiting for PO for Kawai you know it was a um it was a crazy um that was certainly a crazy off season unusual waiting for anybody these days so you have been a part of a front office that made significant trades obviously and

With the name of upgrades in mind the Pacers just did that right SE yakum is now on their team they have different goals now so when you make a trade like that in a front office and it changes your immediate Direction how do how long does it take for your kind of thinking

To change and and catch up on like okay here’s what our roster looks like now within the structure and goals that we have versus what we had even three weeks ago yeah it’s funny um I you know Indiana went from like this cap space team flexibility wise um you know and

Now all of a sudden like oh we’ve got to worry about the luxury tax next year right like right it and I was there um in in New Jersey we went through the same thing like 10-11 season you know we got all this flexibility cap space draft

Picks and then we go get Dar Williams and then all of a sudden you’re like well wait a minute now we we might be a luxury tax team down the road and it’s it changes kind of your thinking as far as what how the pieces fit um you know

Certainly with with Indiana who go out and get Pascal um you know as a free agent likelihood it will come in at a you know pretty significant number and then you add that with um Tyrese’s you know rookie extension kicking in now you’ve got like your two top heavy guys

Right your two main guys and I think that’s how you how this new CBA is setting it up where you have like two two um two max type guys and then every one else kind of filters in now what what it does is now you know in team in

A team raised this um you know this this brought this up to me he’s like you know in the back of the old days you would just have to go into Kevin pitcher’s office and say KP this deal is going to cost us $25 million in luxury tax

Penalties right and now it’s like okay it’s going to cost us the tax and but how does it impact the first apron how does it impact the second apron how does it impact the L you know there’s all these different kind of ramifications how does do it impact us bringing back

Obie toppen who’s a restricted free agent or buddy heeled or do we maybe look to move off one of those guys before February 8th and because of where your finances are that it is you know as I said like you go from you know having $30 million in potential cap spased and

Now you’ve got $150 million in salary and a luxury tax at 172 and and you’re looking at all these different these options here the beauty of it is and you know I’ve talked to a lot of teams about this is like you know one my big question is is how what’s the perfect

Roster under this new Collective bargain agreement like what’s the perfect way to build it and we’re going to learn a lot but a lot of people have said Indiana like Indiana what they’ve done because I know the picks went out to um to Toronto in that in that deal but how they have

The uh the Aaron asith extension it’s a really good number um you still have mathine you still have um Isaiah Jacks some of your younger players uh nard some of your younger players and then miles is the third highest guy at you know $20 million um there’s there’s a

Structure there where it’s not like you know like Phoenix is tough because you have three Mach guys and 10 minimums right that’s where that’s when you run into that danger zone a little bit here because you’re basically turning over your roster every um every year and everything like that so that’s yeah that

There’s a lot of different decisions there as far as what Indiana’s faced with but as you said like it goes from kind of that cap space to now we’re Team that’s you know hey we’re 23 million below the tax next year how we have to prioritize what who our free agents are

Is it would it be strange to if you know the trade was January 19th 18th whatever it was officially that you know now they’re they’re thinking about winning this year whereas before the season Chad Buchanan said we have this long-term part in the back of our head

So now you have three weeks basically a little over three weeks until the deadline itself to evaluate your new rotation your new team um within winning goals like do you feel like that’s any sort of challenge or do you feel like they already have enough data on their

Current team to assess that part of it yeah I mean it changes the goal post a little bit here I mean I think the big thing is that you know you know you you’d love to see this roster healthy and healthy what I mean is you know

Howburn at full strength right I think he’s still kind of trying to come back and figure out you know from that injury here I think you know it’s it’s amazing because I was just talking to Tim bontemps about this here and you know we’re you guys are going to be talking a

Lot about it is the 6 game y r are yeah yeah and and the one thing you don’t want and and he’s different in uh MBI like the halberton situation is different than MB where mbid is had won the MVP already right halton’s got 40 an

Extra $40 million as far as where um you know what’s riding as far as him getting that 65 games and everything like that and um so it does change the goalpost because you were that team that was kind of you know fighting to get in um you

Know as a you know six seed and stuff like that now we go out and trade three first round picks and now we’re expected to try to get into that four or five or maybe avoid the playing and everything like that but I think the trade is is

Set up more for next year also um and future years here um because those inseason trades are extremely hard to make and have a significant impact where it is taking you kind of to a Eastern Conference Championship or an NBA uh you know an NBA Finals hey guys short little break here

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Easy this are in an interesting spot to me right now where you know they have two expiring but one of them is a restricted guy and the other one’s buddy hee who clearly they wanted to extend him before the season even though it it ended or and before the season but it

Ended up being what it is now what do you feel like are the big things for them heading into the deadline now that they’ve made the yakum trade is it the top and heeled expiring is it something with their kind of crowded front Court what stands out to you as their next big

Thing they have to think about yeah I mean top ‘s a little bit different because as you said he’s restricted right so you’ve got the right to match um you can you basically control restricted free agency unless he comes in with an offer sheet and then you’re

Forced to to um to make a decision there um heeled I think heeled is and there’s there’s a balancing act with with Buddy and I wrote about it is that what are you selling to your locker room if you’re saying we’re trading buddy heeled for um a first round pick where you have

A guy that maybe can Will can help you in a playoff game but we’re going to pick up a draft asset here because we think we’re going to lose and you I mean you I mean I’m just looking back to when you know you know didn’t didn’t sit well

With Pacers fans when Danny Granger got traded for Evan Turner and that kind of like just the locker room Dynamics because there is more than just we’re trading in expiring because we don’t want to pay him or the luxury tax but there’s that locker room dynamic there

That maybe you don’t do anything with either and maybe you just go into the offseason here because you could always do a signing trade you could always do something where you know maybe you’re trading him and creating a trade exception here in that regards and you’re you’re picking up a couple second

Rounds um and you don’t have to do anything you know just because they’re gonna you know potentially become free agents there yeah with heeld I have a couple things that I I wonder one is you know if they do a trade like you just described the value has to be high

Enough that they say this is worth us being wor worse in a year that we want to make the postseason or have talked about making the postseason and so it doesn’t have to be trading bu healed for equal value it has to be trading for enough value to also lose that part of

It which on a team like this where everybody’s talked about making the postseason all year is a tricky message to send and the other thing with him that I’ve thought about is though his salary slots now kind of important in the new CBA you kind of described this

Stuff so losing him is kind of painful right you need those $20 million guys around so but also trading him for a long-term sale salary you’re run it a tax concern so it’s a kind of a tricky balance and with toen the other thing I wondered is he he doesn’t meet starter

Criteria so his qualifying offer isn’t super high but like he might just sign it right given given the Pacers situation so how does that all fit into what they think of him this Summer it’s only like a little under eight million if he doesn’t make starter criteria but

Even that with their luxury tax bill is something to think about so well I agree they could keep T and easily go ahead I think Tony I think the luxury tax and this a team brought this up to me is not going to be as important as it once was

Because the rates are going down and I know it’s important to get the distribution right as far as where that is and I think the distribution will will get lower as this apron kind of takes a bite out of Golden State and the Clippers and their tax figures come down

And in U in two years from now you’re basically looking like um you know dollar for dollar if you get in um I would have loved to seen um you know you get in and then you still get some type of distribution back I I thought that

Would have been smart as far as allow teams to spend more um so I think the tax um although it is you know you don’t want to be a tax paying team um doesn’t have as much bite as it maybe did in the in the past um so you can get your toe

In there I think you made a good point about in this new CBA with those salary slots those like those like 15 to $20 million guys are extremely extremely valuable we’re seeing it right now where I mean you can make an argument that Bruce Brown and Malcolm Brogden and all

Those guys who are making $20 million are more valuable than Zack LaVine I mean that’s just it’s just the reality of it and um like New York’s gonna go through it with Forni like Evan forier is more more valuable than Zack LaVine people like wait a minute guy pay averages three

Minutes no he’s got an 18.9 million contract he’s got a $19 million team option for next year and he fits you want to go out and make another deal right like if you want to take his contract and aggravate it or flip it for something else um it it you know those

Are the type of deals that or contracts that you want to have yeah and the other thing I think for the Pacers it could be appealing if they could find a way to do it this is obviously fantasy land is one of those nice mid 20s descending contracts look

At B Dan banovich that is a I think every team should be calling the Hawks in their financial situation about him but of course you know Washington similarly that’s fantasy land to acquire a player just for their contract but that is in the Pacer situation something

That would be appealing so I agree with you that top and heal are interesting names to monitor but I also agree that keeping them for the rest of the season figuring out in June and July could interesting and something that hasn’t really been discussed as it relates to

The trade deadline and I don’t think it’s a big deal but now teams can negotiate with their own guys before everybody else do you feel like that’s going to change anything when free agency starts the day after the finals or not not that much no probably not

I think I just think it makes it cleaner right I don’t I just think it makes it cleaner where you’re not hiding around hiding in the bushes anymore I and I think it I think it just opens up the dialogue where maybe it eliminates maybe some of these other teams that have kind

Of trying to figure out what the marketplace is and you’re going back channels here and you’re and if you’re um if you’re buddy and or or Obie and you’re you know you’re on the roster in the offseason and you know the finals ends on June 16 you have a you know you

Have a basically a twoe window to figure out kind of what your Marketplace is is H going to be but a lot of that as you know a lot of that stuff happens kind of around yeah you go you find a guy down in the coffee shop in Chicago you you

Start talking about Buddy hee as far as what his um you know what the what what his number could be but I think you know certainly The Market Place dictates that as far as you know where teams are with cap space and who’s got exceptions I think we’ll be interested for toppen is

Is that you know the rules are changing where you know you can acquire players by using your exceptions so if you have yeah if you have got if you got the $13 million uh non- tax it’s almost like a cha it’s a trade uh exception for you I mean there’s different ramifications for

It because it will trigger you know whether it be the you know the first apron there and how does that impact free agency how does that impact free agency if teams are just sitting there saying you know we’re going to wait for a trade to happen we’re going to use our

Exceptions towards that and not towards free agent I wonder if it’s qualifying offer fits in the nont or the regular tax level I have that’s probably probably not because that thing’s low one more break here guys so we can talk about the lovely folks over at FanDuel happy Super Bowl to all who

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Fanduel.com lockon make every moment more with FanDuel an official sports book of the NFL so something uh else I’m curious about with the Pacers and I’m curious about your thoughts on is now that they have cakam they went from a team with maybe one too many guards now they have

Probably one too many front Court players right if fully healthy SE yakum n Smith Turner um Obie and Jaylen Smith would probably be the guys that play there and that leaves Isaiah Jackson and jarus Walker presently out and I get why jarus Walker can still have long-term value whatever but Isaiah Jackson you

Mentioned him earlier like is a good young player on one hand with young players the team that has them puts the most value in them because they’ve developed them they’ve made decisions with them in mind but on the other hand if they have if they’re not playing

Their value is less to you now how would you kind of think about that as the Pacers young players like that are like I’m going to use a b analogy they’re like middle um middle relief relief pitcher they’re the guys that come in in sixth or seventh inning that get you

Like two outs when you need it right and but you might not use them for another week you know like it’s and that’s kind of it’s like situational because they’re on such a good contract they’re on rookie contracts um you know Isaiah’s at 27 right two point two% of the cap and

Stuff like that but then what happens though is that all of a sudden you look up and you’re like oh wait a minute he’s going into his fourth year of his contract we’ve got to figure out what what to do with what to do with him and

As you said you’re you know you’re certainly not going to do anything with Walker because he fits if your salaries get to be high he’s one of those guys where you’ve got these you know like mathine right you’re on these great contracts um it fits kind of the the

Ecosystem of the salary cap here um but yeah I mean I think if if something would would make sense if team comes in and offers something and it makes sense and if you can maybe build back your draft equity a little bit there then that’s something that you can um you can

Certainly look at I’m sure my listeners are dying to know the answer to this question but they now have three second round picks in the 50s and might not even have three roster slots do you even think about that as a trade deadline thing that matters for them to consider well here’s

The thing though um you know because what you’re going to see is like you know there’s a third of the league is not going to be is going to be apron teams potentially they want those yeah so you know there goes the cash right no

More cash and in a um in a in a deal if you’re a if you’re a second apron team here so um you know those do those turn into maybe your two-way guys um you know maybe you know you know it’s going to be maybe less activity that we maybe’ seen

In the second round just based on what these uh what these new rules are these are dramatic picks now Bobby they get their own day of coverage they get four minutes per pick these are a big deal I know I just saw that second day of the

NBA draft right we we can focus that’ll be a big day about about focusing on on the Pacers there in the 50s that’s their day uh is there anything else you feel like we haven’t touched on with the Pacers the only thing I feel like we haven’t mentioned is heeld would still

Be extension eligible if he isn’t traded but that’s only with the Pacers but I mean who knows what they’re at where they’re at with that but is there any other consideration you feel like this team needs to have these NE this next week or so listen you know before the

Trade I thought there was a lot of talk about TJ um as far as his value I mean TJ has got a lot of value to the Pacers he’s got as you know he’s got one of the great contracts right he’s like you know when we talk about Alex Caruso contract

He’s you know that’s where you know where you got a partial for next year and he fills a role um and he’s you know fits he fits what Rick is trying to do here so guys like that are um invaluable to what um to what you’re doing here um

But yeah I mean it’s I mean I’m just looking at their their you know their cap sheet here right now you know they’re it’s a it’s a deep roster I think you’ve seen a lot more of Ben Shepard a little bit lately um you know when people probably was that a sign

That you know maybe they’re phasing out heel I don’t I don’t know I don’t think so um but I think it’s you know you’re kind of as as you said you’re kind of in this in between phase where you made a big deal a big trade um it changes the

Goalpost a little bit around um you go from like that expectation of like what’s next to now like you know now we have to take another you know getting into the first round might not be good enough or maybe it is based on how that

Series goes here um but the beauty of it is that because you did that deal um you know what two I guess it was two week two or three weeks ago you’re not faced with 20 games left in the season like you still have you know there’s you know

With halberton back and getting him healthy you still have kind of a little bit of a longer Runway than you would have done at the deadline yeah McConnell big winner from the zachum trade because Bruce Brown went outright so now he has minutes and credit to his agent for

Doing this four years ago but his partial is so high that you don’t have to decide if he’s worth $9 million you have to decide if he’s worth $4.3 million and obviously he is so I assume that would get picked up although flexibility could be valuable to some

Teams so he seems like a big winner from all this to me and I think that outside of the expiring and maybe a small front Court trade the Pacers might just see what they’ve got with this team and figure out okay let’s see what we are in

The postseason and it’s easier to assess what you need to be better in the playoffs with playoff experience so that’s a big part of it yeah I mean that’s and I I I just did a video on the Kings um and I and I said that like you

Know sac and it’s kind of like somewhat similar situation maybe where Sacramento was yearo the one thing you don’t want to do is make a deal and then all of a sudden you’re like oh my God now we’re a playing team or now we’re fighting to

Get in right a midseason deal here where you know what let’s get to the playoffs let’s get to a first round series let’s see where we are similar to like Oklahoma City what Oklahoma City could go through where this group as together you know getting in a first round series

You know what maybe we need to go at it and get a um another guard or another we need more shooting and stuff like that and then you can go about and and address that in in the off season Bobby invaluable insight into this Pacers team and the leagues

Happenings thank you very much for the time today I most people probably know already but work can people keep up with the stuff you’re putting out about all 30 teams heading into the yeah we’ve got I think 18 trade guide videos up on YouTube on the ESPN section we’ve got full content on

Espn.com um trade guides two trade guides um short novels as I call them as far as what what’s out there and we’ll have more content over the next week invaluable resources I miss watching Bobby Mark’s Instagram videos about uh random trades now they’ve migrated yeah

You know I I’ve become big time you know I finally have figured out technology and stuff as far as uh you know as far as put a three minute video on my Instagram page and stuff like that Bobby’s on Twitter at Bobby marks 42 you can find the show at locked on Pacers

And me at Tony R East tomorrow talking Pacers Nicks talking Pacers Kings all sorts of fun game stuff and there’ll be a lot of trade coverage heading into the deadline thanks everybody and we’ll see you soon

The NBA Trade Deadline is one week away. What do the Indiana Pacers need to think about, especially after they acquired Pascal Siakam? Host Tony East is joined by Bobby Marks, previously the assistant general manager of the Brooklyn Nets and now with ESPN, to break it all down.

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