New Orleans Pelicans Receive: C Myles Turner
Dallas Mavericks Receive: C Steven Adams
Indiana Pacers: F/C Maxi Kleber, C Jaxson Hayes, NOP 2021 1st Round Pick (Top-5 Protected)
With both Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram running things for the Pelicans, this team has a chance to be really special moving forward, but they are going to need to improve defensively. They currently rank 28th in the league in defensive rating, which is likely why they are going to wind up missing the playoffs for the third straight season.
This team is not far off from being a major threat in the Western Conference, which is why they could potentially go after Myles Turner hard in the offseason. He is everything any team should want in a center and with his ability to be the best shot-blocker in the league, he could easily help turn things around defensively for the Pelicans.
Through 45 games this season, Myles Turner is averaging 12.7 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.5 blocks (league-high) and is shooting 33.3% from three-point range. On the season, Turner has 156 blocks and is currently on pace to potentially have over 250 blocks on the season.
If the Pelicans are to strike a deal with the Pacers for Myles Turner, they will need to free up some cap space, which is why a third team in the Dallas Mavericks could get involved in this deal. They have some frontcourt issues of their own and outside of Kristaps Porzingis, do not have much consistency from their big men, which is why getting a strong rebounder like Steven Adams could peak their interest.
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While he is not much of a scorer, Steven Adams is one of the toughest centers in the entire league and is still a high-level rebounder. In about 28 minutes per game this season, Adams is averaging 8.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and is shooting 62.4% from the floor.
The New Orleans Pelicans need Myles Turner badly, the Mavericks could really use a bruiser like Adams and the Pacers get a lot of value out of dealing Myles Turner, so why wouldn’t all three of these teams want to make this deal? Let’s take a closer look at this trade from all three team’s perspectives and see if this deal truly makes sense for all three teams.
