Off to the Races || Indiana Pacers (2K23)

[ShamWowNY]

NEW ORLEANS -- The Brooklyn Nets, New Orleans Pelicans, and Indiana Pacers agreed to a blockbuster three-team deal just hours into the new year, sources say, with Kevin Durant, Myles Turner, T.J. Warren, Markieff Morris, Yuta Watanabe, and James Johnson heading to New Orleans. Dyson Daniels, Trey Murphy III, Jaxson Hayes, Kira Lewis Jr., and six first-round selections are going to Brooklyn, while Indiana will receive Jonas Valanciunas, Devonte' Graham, Garrett Temple, and first- and second-round picks.

The six first-round picks sent by New Orleans to Brooklyn are headlined by New Orleans' 2023 first-round pick, which includes the right to swap selections with the Los Angeles Lakers. Rights to the Milwaukee Bucks' picks in 2024 and 2025, plus the Pelicans own 2026, 2027, and 2029 unprotected first round picks are also headed to Brooklyn. This represents a historic draft haul for an asset that rarely enters the market - an all-time great on a long-term contract.

Pick compensation headed to Indiana includes the Lakers 2024 unprotected first-round pick and Chicago's 2024 second-round pick. The Pacers have also announced a deal to exchange Daniel Theis for a top-55 protected 2023 second round pick from the Los Angeles Clippers, with Theis being absorbed into Los Angeles' trade exception. This move was necessary to create the roster space required to facilitate the Durant-Turner trade.

This deal represents the end of a failed marriage between one of the game's biggest stars and one of the world's largest markets.

In Brooklyn, a chapter defined by unmet expectations, near-misses, and discontent has now closed. When Sean Marks traded for James Harden just under two years ago, the expectation was that the Nets would compete for multiple NBA championships around a core of Harden, Durant, and Kyrie Irving. This plan did not come to fruition, leading Durant to request a trade in the summer of 2022.

That move, league sources say, created an irreparable rift in the Brooklyn organization that was further exacerbated by controversies off the court and disappointing results on it. While Steve Nash was relieved of his duties in November, these sources say the move was seen as too little, too late by Durant and his camp.

"If the team was playing well, there could've been a chance at reconciliation," one source close to Durant told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne. "One win in two months over a plus-.500 team isn't going to do it."

Brooklyn, sources tell ESPN, continues to be engaged on deals ahead of next month's trade deadline as it seeks to get below the tax line and move any remaining win-now pieces for long-term assets.

This trade signals what could be a massive shift in league hegemony.

While Pelicans head coach Willie Green cannot yet speak specifically about the trade given that it hasn't been processed as of publication, he did express excitement on behalf of his team and staff.

"Our team's group chat has been buzzing, I'll share that much," Green said.

Durant has already heard from Pelicans star Zion Williamson and General Manager David Griffin, his manager Rich Kleiman told ESPN. "Kevin is thrilled to join a team with so much youth and talent," Kleiman said.

That team will now include Durant and Myles Turner, but not promising young talents Dyson Daniels, Trey Murphy III, and Jaxson Hayes, who have all played a significant role in the Pelicans rotation this season. While Brooklyn would've preferred to receive Brandon Ingram in the deal, he was marked as untouchable by New Orleans in negotiations.

But that restriction wasn't enough to prevent a deal from taking place, especially as Brooklyn felt a sense of urgency to clear the financial books while the trade market for Durant remained tepid. The never-before-seen level of draft compensation allows New Orleans to keep Brandon Ingram, while Dyson Daniels represents for Brooklyn a promising and versatile player with All-NBA upside.

Beyond Durant, the Pelicans secured who could be a long-term solution as a stretch 5 with elite defensive skills in Myles Turner. While Turner is in the last year of his contract, the Pelicans received assurances that Turner will sign a long-term contract at the conclusion of the 2022-23 season, sources say. T.J. Warren and Markieff Morris will also be valuable pieces for Willie Green in his playoff rotation.

New Orleans shot up NBA futures boards as information about the trade came to light. Today, Caesars Sportsbook upgraded the Pelicans championship odds from 18-1 to 7-1, just below top teams such as the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers.

The third team in this trade, Indiana, was seen necessary for the trade to meet the needs of both Brooklyn and New Orleans - financial flexibility for the Nets, and more talent for the Pelicans. The Pacers have actively shopped Myles Turner for multiple seasons, and faced the prospect of losing him for nothing this offseason if he were to enter unrestricted free agency. With this trade, they received what they believe to be a blue-chip pick in exchange for a center playing DPOY-level basketball this year.

The on-court impact of this deal for the Pacers largely depends on subsequent decisions. Jonas Valanciunas is currently injured, having dislocated his shoulder in December. At this point, sources say, Indiana is not likely to rush him back. In addition, Buddy Hield is in the midst of the best shooting season of his career. If the Pacers decide to move him, there will be no shortage of potential suitors.

It is clear that Indiana is fully committed to and trusts the development of young players such as Tyrese Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin, Chris Durate, Jalen Smith, and Isaiah Jackson. The Pacers have also built a stockpile of five first-round picks in 2023 and 2024, giving them a strong pipeline of young talent and/or ammunition for a more significant move in the coming years.

Today, the Nets sit just one game ahead of the Pacers in the Eastern Conference standings. With a significant injection of youth and outflux of veteran talent, both teams will continue to struggle this season. Meanwhile in the West, just four games separate New Orleans from the first-place Clippers.

More likely than not, ping pong balls on May 16 will color how we look back on a trade that will go down as one of the most significant events in league history. With the Nets now having two very strong chances at generational prospects, it will be luck, not Kevin Durant, that will determine their future. As for Kevin Durant, the future is now in New Orleans.

[Pharcyde82]

Holy crap. That's a massive trade haul for Brooklyn. Actually believable to.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[studbucket]

Amazing deal. Can you lay out what the lineups/rotations look like for those teams now?

[ShamWowNY]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pharcyde82

Holy crap. That's a massive trade haul for Brooklyn. Actually believable to.

It came down to Phoenix and New Orleans - Phoenix could offer better players now, but New Orleans could offer a truly unbeatable haul of picks, plus prospects with many years of team control remaining. For New Orleans to beat out Phoenix, they had to roll those picks out!

I was happy just to facilitate with my cap room, but I realized that Turner would be a perfect fit on the Pels next to Zion with his ability to stretch the floor on O and lock down the paint on D. We took back a subpar 3-year contract in Graham, but that pick made it worth it for us IMO.

Quote: Originally Posted by studbucket

Amazing deal. Can you lay out what the lineups/rotations look like for those teams now?

Yes, I'm actually working on a longer-form piece now that dives into the trade a bit deeper, but in brief:

New Orleans Pelicans Depth Chart - 2023
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
PG	CJ McCollum	Jose Alvarado
SG	Brandon Ingram	TJ Warren	(Buyout FA TBD?)
SF	Kevin Durant	Herb Jones	Yuta Watanabe
PF	Zion Williamson	Naji Marshall	Markieff Morris	James Johnson
C	Myles Turner	Larry Nance Jr.	Willy Hernangomez

Indiana Pacers Depth Chart - 2023
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
PG	Tyrese Haliburton	TJ McConnell	Devonte' Graham
SG	Buddy Hield	Bennedict Mathurin	Andrew Nembhard
SF	Chris Duarte	Aaron Nesmith	Garrett Temple
PF	Jalen Smith	Oshae Brissett	Terry Taylor
C	Isaiah Jackson	Goga Bitadze		J. Valanciunas (inj.)

Brooklyn Nets Depth Chart - 2023
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
PG	Ben Simmons	Patty Mills	Kira Lewis Jr.
SG	Seth Curry	Cam Thomas	Edmond Sumner	Kyrie Irving (sit)
SF	Dyson Daniels	Royce O'Neale	Joe Harris
PF	Trey Murphy III	Kessler Edwards
C	Nic Claxton	Jaxson Hayes	Day'Ron Sharpe

[ShamWowNY]

[ShamWowNY]

Well, that was pretty crazy.

In a trade that I don't think anyone saw coming, Kevin Durant is spreading his wings and flying - as a Pelican (sorry, I had to get at least one avian pun in).

In fact, given the reporting on this trade today, I'm not sure New Orelans themselves even saw this coming:

This is a trade that has massive implications across the entire league. Will this set off an arms race at the top of the West? Where will Kyrie and supporting pieces like Royce O'Neale and Seth Curry end up? Will this trade give Ben Simmons the room to figure out whatever he's got going on? Those questions, important as they are, will be answered later. For now, lets analyze the trade that created them.

The Trade
New Orleans trades: Jonas Valanciunas, Devonte' Graham, Jaxson Hayes, Dyson Daniels, Garrett Temple, Kira Lewis Jr., Trey Murphy III, 2023 FRP swap (LAL), 2024 FRP (LAL), 2024 SRP (CHI), 2024 FRP (MIL), 2025 FRP swap (MIL), 2026 FRP (NOP), 2027 FRP (NOP), 2029 FRP (NOP)
New Orleans receives: Kevin Durant, Myles Turner, TJ Warren, Markieff Morris, Yuta Watanabe, James Johnson

Brooklyn trades: Kevin Durant, TJ Warren, Markieff Morris, Yuta Watanabe
Brooklyn receives: Jaxson Hayes, Dyson Daniels, Kira Lewis Jr., Trey Murphy III, 2023 FRP swap (LAL), 2024 FRP (MIL) 2025 FRP swap (MIL), 2026 FRP (NOP), 2027 FRP (NOP), 2029 FRP (NOP)

Indiana trades: Myles Turner, James Johnson
Indiana receives: Jonas Valanciunas, Devonte' Graham, Garrett Temple, 2024 FRP (LAL), 2024 SRP (CHI)

The Grades
New Orleans Pelicans
The Pelicans playoff rotation went from formidable to terrifying with this trade. They turned an above-average starting center and two solid young rotation guys into an elite, seven-foot-tall wing, a DPOY-level stretch 5, and veteran role players with playoff experience.

Imagine you go to a rowdy Smoothie King Center for game 7. You run and gun with a team that features some of the most savvy scorers in the league and a one-of-a-kind athlete. Either Kevin Durant or Brandon Ingram has been on the court every second of the game, so your defense is exhausted. It's somehow still close in the fourth. Then, the Pelicans come out of a timeout with a lineup of 6'6" lockdown defender Herb Jones, BI, KD, Zion, and Myles Turner.

Unless you're the Raptors or Magic, you're completely outsized and will struggle to do much of anything. If you're playing with a traditional PG, they could even swap BI for Jose Alvarado and have him pester your initiator while Herb Jones locks down your star wing. You will not score.

So, all of that to say the Pelicans have created what is one of the best 8-man playoff rotations of all time. Meanwhile, they still have first-round picks in 2024 and 2025! They will be adding talent to this roster even while they're paying four guys $30M+ for the next two seasons.

New Orleans sent out a biblical number of draft picks - eight in total, seven of which were first rounders. They also gave up a young sharpshooter and a very promising rookie in Trey Murphy and Dyson Daniels. That makes this move the chips-in trade to end all chips-in trades. With New Orleans just four games behind the Clippers in a wide-open Western Conference, it was no doubt time to make such a move.

I do wonder how the Pelicans locker room looks in a month or two. Kevin Durant has never been known as a great culture guy. New Orleans was a young team with a fun vibe, but now they're in the top tier of title contenders, with Champions-or-bust aspirations. If they live up to those, this trade may go down as one of the greatest heists of all time. If not, then the Pelicans still have a modest number of assets to move in the offseason for whatever it is they're missing, but this trade loses some luster. If they never win a chip...well that's a discussion for another time.

Grade: A


Brooklyn Nets
The Nets front office was between a rock and a hard place on this one. KD wanted out this summer. They convinced him to stay. They played terribly this season. KD decided he actually did want out after all. Chaos ensued.

Brooklyn had a sence of urgency for a few reasons here:

1. They're facing the repeater tax this season, meaning a massive payroll bill for a team that isn't on track to even make the Play-In Tournament
2. Their obligation to Houston is a swap, not an unprotected pick, meaning losing can still help them in the draft this season (Houston, of course, is the worst team in the NBA this year)
3. Victor Wembanyama is a generational prospect, and there were lottery tickets for him on the market
4. KD was increasingly seen as a distressed asset, and they needed to move him before the situation on the court and in the locker room damaged his value further

While they didn't get a player of Jaylen Brown's level, they did receive a prospect in Dyson Daniels who could reach a level below Brown before his rookie contract is up, and perhaps surpass his ability on a rookie extension. Trey Murphy III and Jaxson Hayes are no slouches either, though Hayes enters restricted free agency this offseason.

Brooklyn also, of course, received the greatest package of draft compensation in NBA history, including what looks like one of the aforementioned lottery tickets for Victor Wembanyama.

There's a not-improbable timeline where the Nets get the first overall pick, get Wembanyama, and then buy an on-the-market superstar (Siakam? Trae Young?) with some of their remaining picks from this deal. Suddenly, their starting five includes Ben Simmons, Dyson Daniels, Wembanyama, and a superstar.

Wishcasting? Perhaps. But this deal is all about flexibility and keeping paths open for the Nets. It's easy to imagine them contending again within two years. They still can move Kyrie and other high-level role players for positive assets too. Brooklyn didn't get a star for KD today, but tomorrow may be another story.

Grade: B+


Indiana Pacers
This deal was a masterclass in leverage for Indiana. On the open market, Myles Turner would likely not command a lottery pick due to his contract situation. But without Turner AND the Pacers cap space, KD is a Sun, not a Pelican. Indiana knew this and extracted a high-value pick in next year's draft, meaning they now have five picks between this year and next.

Jonas Valanciunas, though we're unlikely to see him this season, is a skilled center in his own right, and the Pacers will have a full season next year to see how he meshes with Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers squad. Devonte' Graham could be fun off the bench, even if his contract is a bit oversized. And who knows, maybe the Chicago second rounder becomes a pseudo-first if they sell DeRozan and LaVine in the offseason.

Grade: A-


The Conclusion
I'm an easy grader, alright? I also sincerely think this deal has the potential to be a win-win-win trade. If the Pelicans win a championship with KD, the Nets rebuild quickly, and the Pacers use their draft chest to supplement Tyrese Haliburton and Benndict Mathurin, everyone has gotten what they wanted out of this.

My 2025 NBA Finals prediction? Pelicans vs Nets. Only half-joking.

[studbucket]

Great analysis, thanks for laying it out there, and New Orleans has a heck of a scoring lineup. There's not a lot of defense in that starting 5, but that may not be an issue due to scoring and length.

[ShamWowNY]

Quote: Originally Posted by studbucket

Great analysis, thanks for laying it out there, and New Orleans has a heck of a scoring lineup. There's not a lot of defense in that starting 5, but that may not be an issue due to scoring and length.

I do wonder how it'll turn out on defense - they kept Herb Jones around, but they definitely will have to rely on length on that end besides him.