After losing in the first-round of the playoffs for the last five seasons, the Indiana Pacers finally decided to make some changes this past offseason and hired Nate Bjorkgren to be their new head coach. With T.J. Warren’s breakout performances in the NBA Bubble last season and Domantas Sabonis coming off of an All-Star season last year, there was a lot of hype surrounding this year’s Pacers team, but all of that has gone out the window due to numerous injuries.
T.J. Warren injured his foot 4 games into the season and will miss the remainder of the season after having a second procedure done, Jeremy Lamb has been dealing with injuries on-and-off this season and Caris LeVert, who was acquired in January for Victor Oladipo, did not make his season debut until mid-March as he recovered from surgery to remove a cancerous mass from his kidney.
Now, both Malcolm Brogdon and Domantas Sabonis are both dealing with some nagging injuries and the Pacers as a team are starting to trend downwards. They have lost four of their last six games and are holding onto their playoff hopes this season by their fingertips. A potential rebuild will be something to monitor in NBA trade rumors in the offseason, especially if they miss the playoffs altogether.
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This team definitely has the capability to make the playoffs this season and potentially be a dangerous team, but their lack of consistency and ability to blow fourth quarter leads has hindered their chances to make anything of this season and as a result, we could be seeing some major roster changes in the offseason.
Sabonis made his second All-Star appearance this season and Malcolm Brogdon has been putting together the best year of his career, but Brogdon could definitely peak a lot of interest on the trade market. He will have two years left on his contract after this season and with him being owed $21.7M next season, could the Pacers look to trade him and free up some cap space to make some other moves?
If Brogdon does become available, the New Orleans Pelicans are definitely a team that could express interest in the former Rookie of the Year. Now, let’s take a look at what the Pelicans would have to offer up in a Malcolm Brogdon oriented trade.
