The Los Angeles Lakers have not hidden their desire to add a big man to the roster. New head coach JJ Redick has openly discussed it in interviews, while Anthony Davis reportedly wants to play alongside other big men instead of being a lone center. Even though the Lakers signed Christian Koloko on a two-way contract, they’re still yet to add a full-time center to make the load Davis carries lighter.
The Indiana Pacers are coming off a fantastic year which saw them return to the Eastern Conference Finals after 10 years. Tyrese Haliburton is a generational point guard and will lead the Pacers to many more playoff runs to come. The front office is still building out the core around him, with Myles Turner serving as Haliburton’s center.
With an uncertain future for Turner, the Pacers could get ahead of his impending free agency by acquiring some solid assets from the Lakers in a trade this season.
Trade Details
Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Myles Turner
Indiana Pacers Receive: Jarred Vanderbilt, Gabe Vincent, Maxwell Lewis, 2029 First-Round Pick (LAL)
This mock deal gives the Lakers the perfect rim-protecting and floor-spacing center, a player who they’ve gone after multiple times in previous years. The Pacers get a multi-positional defender to help them improve from being one of the worst defenses in the NBA alongside a rotational guard like Vincent who could be traded further. The real asset is that 2029 Lakers pick, arguably the most valuable future pick in the NBA due to the team’s uncertain competitive future.
The Lakers Add The Perfect Center
There might not be a better fit for Turner anywhere else in the NBA. As he transitions his game away from athleticism and lob-catching, Turner’s skills as a shooter and defender have become even more heightened. He can bang in the post while flashing out to the three-point line to open the lane for the talented drivers on the Lakers roster, especially LeBron James. In addition, his presence would drastically reduce the defensive workload of Davis, who has had to carry the Lakers on his back defensively.
Turner averaged 17.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks last season, thriving alongside a point guard like Haliburton. He could replicate that impact on the Lakers with LeBron as the creator and in what many believe will be an innovative offensive system drawn up by JJ Redick.
Turner would be a seamless fit into the Lakers offense and be the perfect big man to put next to Davis defensively. This would give the Lakers one of the best frontcourts in the NBA in a conference where centers have become more important over the last few seasons.
The cost of players won’t bother the Lakers, who don’t have many players with positive trade value on their roster anyway. That 2029 first-round pick is a massive asset to include, with LeBron expected to retire before then and Davis being a 36-year-old who might not even stay on contract with the Lakers until then.
With Turner also turning 33 years old by the time the pick conveys, the Pacers could bet on this trade paying off in long-term value while they hopefully still have Haliburton in his prime on the roster.
The Pacers Reshape Their Roster In A Sustainable Way
The Indiana Pacers got to make a run till the Eastern Conference Finals in a heavily injured conference, showing the team’s capable of challenging the best but with a major asterisk over its head. They’ll try to be contenders this season as well, but the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, and Philadelphia 76ers seem a step ahead of everyone else at the moment. Instead of settling for a middling season and then being forced to overpay Turner or watch him leave, the team could maximize assets for him.
The team is concerned about the price he could command as a free agent, especially with the Pacers already committing a max contract to Pascal Siakam this offseason. With Haliburton already getting a rookie max and Bennedict Mathurin a high-priority youngster who is eligible for an extension, Turner is the odd man out for the Pacers. The team has frontcourt players like Isaiah Jackson and Jarace Walker who could benefit from an advanced opportunity as well.
Adding Jarred Vanderbilt, who averaged 5.2 points and 4.8 rebounds last season, gives the Pacers a major defensive tool that coach Rick Carlisle can use for all five positions on the court. In addition, Gabe Vincent is a steady backup guard who plays with defensive intensity and has Playoff experience.
Maxwell Lewis is a long-term project who might not turn out to be anything, but the players and the pick they’re receiving could make this a slam dunk, especially if the alternative is losing Turner for nothing in free agency.
A Risky Proposition For Both Sides
A deal like this would carry a major risk for the Lakers and Pacers. The Lakers are trading away one of their only major trade assets for a rotational center and not a star while the Pacers are trading a complementary center away for assets to avoid losing him for nothing. It’s a risk for both sides as it could be a trade that goes wrong for either easily.
The Lakers have to worry about retaining Turner, but with LeBron’s willingness to take a pay cut this summer for talented stars, he might do the same next summer to allow Turner to get a lucrative long-term contract. Retaining Turner isn’t as big a problem for the Lakers as the Pacers, as Indiana also needs to worry about paying for the pipeline of young talent they’ve drafted over the years.
If this works, the Pacers will have elevated multiple young stars into their core while becoming more versatile whereas the Lakers would have added a center that both JJ Redick and Anthony Davis will be overjoyed by. No trade works until the results are on the court, so we’ll have to see if either side gets their money’s worth in this deal.
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