With the Shams bomb that the Pacers might be looking at blowing it up for a rebuild, Kings fans already falling over themselves to come up with deals to acquire the 25 year old son of the former Vlade arch rival.
People are suggesting a Fox for Sabonis swap/trade but I think the more prudent win now trade would be trying to pair the two, which would mean trading picks and Haliburton/Davion/both and salary filler for him. Pairing Haliburton and Sabonis is pretty much just a rehash of the Sabonis/Brogdan Pacers that have struggled over the last couple of seasons where a Fox/Sabonis pairing is probably a little closer to the Pacers pre-Dipo blowing out his leg and requesting a trade.
Theoretically, you could package Bagley and Tristan's salaries with a bunch of picks and get a trade done salary-wise but I doubt the Pacers accept that.
Dream scenario (Kevin Pritchard hits his head and forgets how to GM and accepts a Bagley/Tristan/Picks package)
Sabonis/Holmes/Len/Jones/Queta
Barnes/Metu/Woodard
Moe/TD/King
Tyrese/Buddy/Ramsey
Fox/Davion
We'd still be weak at the wings (what else is new?) but you could then potential swing Holmes and/or one of our guards for a wing or draft assets to recoup some of the losses in a trade.
More realistic non-Fox scenario (Tyrese/Davion/Bagley's expiring/picks for Sabonis)
Sabonis/Holmes/Len/TT/Jones/Queta
Barnes/Metu/Woodard
Moe/TD/King
Buddy/Ramsey
Fox/(Free agent acquisition or secondary trade)
Still shallow on the wings and stupidly deep at center but you'd have a clear starting five (that would probably still be toast on defense) and Holmes off the bench as a destructive energy big. The trade a big or two for wing depth thing applies here as well.
Trade Fox for Sabonis scenario (You can't trade Fox for Sabonis alone because he's making 10 million dollars more than him this season LOL so Fox + minimal draft assets for Sabonis and Justin Holiday)
Sabonis/Holmes/Len/TT/Jones/Queta
Barnes/Bagley/Metu/Woodard (probably a waiver casualty to fit Holliday on the roster)
Holiday/Moe/King
Buddy/TD/Ramsey
Tyrese/Davion
This would be a solidly balanced team although we'd still be stuck with a bajillion centers. Theoretically you could trade Holmes for another go-to scorer type to make a run for the playoffs or keep him as a bench guy. But you'd have depth at every position if not necessarily a top line option outside of Domas. This team's ceiling would be dictated by whether one of Tyrese or Davion can develop into an on-ball iso scorer at a certain point.
I'm not really advocating for any of these choices (although getting Sabonis for pennies on the dollar -option A) would be sweet but present these more as a way to get the conversation started. Waiting until December 15th unleashes all sorts of different options to play with (people signed this offseason become tradeable) but for now here are some (dumbly put together as I procrastinate on work stuff) options.
People are suggesting a Fox for Sabonis swap/trade but I think the more prudent win now trade would be trying to pair the two, which would mean trading picks and Haliburton/Davion/both and salary filler for him. Pairing Haliburton and Sabonis is pretty much just a rehash of the Sabonis/Brogdan Pacers that have struggled over the last couple of seasons where a Fox/Sabonis pairing is probably a little closer to the Pacers pre-Dipo blowing out his leg and requesting a trade.
Theoretically, you could package Bagley and Tristan's salaries with a bunch of picks and get a trade done salary-wise but I doubt the Pacers accept that.
Dream scenario (Kevin Pritchard hits his head and forgets how to GM and accepts a Bagley/Tristan/Picks package)
Sabonis/Holmes/Len/Jones/Queta
Barnes/Metu/Woodard
Moe/TD/King
Tyrese/Buddy/Ramsey
Fox/Davion
We'd still be weak at the wings (what else is new?) but you could then potential swing Holmes and/or one of our guards for a wing or draft assets to recoup some of the losses in a trade.
More realistic non-Fox scenario (Tyrese/Davion/Bagley's expiring/picks for Sabonis)
Sabonis/Holmes/Len/TT/Jones/Queta
Barnes/Metu/Woodard
Moe/TD/King
Buddy/Ramsey
Fox/(Free agent acquisition or secondary trade)
Still shallow on the wings and stupidly deep at center but you'd have a clear starting five (that would probably still be toast on defense) and Holmes off the bench as a destructive energy big. The trade a big or two for wing depth thing applies here as well.
Trade Fox for Sabonis scenario (You can't trade Fox for Sabonis alone because he's making 10 million dollars more than him this season LOL so Fox + minimal draft assets for Sabonis and Justin Holiday)
Sabonis/Holmes/Len/TT/Jones/Queta
Barnes/Bagley/Metu/Woodard (probably a waiver casualty to fit Holliday on the roster)
Holiday/Moe/King
Buddy/TD/Ramsey
Tyrese/Davion
This would be a solidly balanced team although we'd still be stuck with a bajillion centers. Theoretically you could trade Holmes for another go-to scorer type to make a run for the playoffs or keep him as a bench guy. But you'd have depth at every position if not necessarily a top line option outside of Domas. This team's ceiling would be dictated by whether one of Tyrese or Davion can develop into an on-ball iso scorer at a certain point.
I'm not really advocating for any of these choices (although getting Sabonis for pennies on the dollar -option A) would be sweet but present these more as a way to get the conversation started. Waiting until December 15th unleashes all sorts of different options to play with (people signed this offseason become tradeable) but for now here are some (dumbly put together as I procrastinate on work stuff) options.