NBA Free Agency 2018: 5 offseason targets for the Indiana Pacers
After acquiring a new franchise cornerstone and surprisingly making the playoffs, how should the Indiana Pacers approach the summer of 2018?
We all pilloried the Indiana Pacers for trading Paul George to the Thunder in exchange for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis on the eve of 2017 free agency. In the moment the trade seemed like an unmitigated disaster… how very wrong we were. Beyond obtaining a legit All-NBA level player in Victor Oladipo, Pacers management made a series of savvy moves last summer. They used their cap space to add Darren Collison and Bojan Bogdanovic on two-year, partially guaranteed deals. With Thad Young opting into his deal and Al Jefferson entering the final year of his partially guaranteed contract, Indiana could have somewhere between $20-$30 million in cap room to spend this summer.
The Pacers face some interesting decisions as July looms large though; they will need to waive almost all of their players on partial guarantees and team options to open up space. In any case, the franchise has high degree of flexibility at this point. Indiana could attempt to strike in free agency this summer, adding multiple pieces when cap room around the NBA is especially limited. Or the Pacers could run things back and roll much of their cap space over to 2019.
Next offseason is shaping up to be something of a 2016 redux though. With many crappy 2016 deals finally expiring, most teams in the league will once again have the opportunity to spend themselves into oblivion! If the Pacers opt to push hard in free agency next year, they’ll be competing with many more teams to sign players. And Indiana doesn’t exactly have a history of attracting big time stars.
As of now, Indiana seems to be leaning toward bringing back its 2018 crew and rolling some space over to 2019. The Pacers have declined Lance Stephenson’s team option and reports suggest that the team aims to guarantee the contracts of both Collison and Bogdanovic. We’ll find out about those two soon. Assuming that Indiana waives Al Jefferson, it will probably be working with closer to $20 million in space this summer. That’s still enough to sign one or two impact guys if the Pacers can find the right deal.
In terms of roster construction this team doesn’t have any gaping rotation holes, but it definitely has a few areas that it can improve substantially. One very broad need that Indiana has is shooting across the roster. The Pacers finished 26th in the NBA in 3-point attempt rate last year; you’d like to see that figure rise at least a bit next year. In terms of specific positional needs, the wing rotation is a bit thin. Adding a player that can defend threes would be especially helpful. The Pacers could also use a nice mix of creation and shooting off the bench in the backcourt. Essentially a guy to carry the offense when Oladipo hits the bench. With a high degree of buying power in the constrained 2018 market, who should the Pacers target this summer?