NBA: Ranking the teams in the Central Division for 2017-18

4. Indiana Pacers

The Pacers got fleeced in a big-time way when they traded George to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

In return for the four-time All-Star, Indiana received two extremely flawed players. Victor Oladipo, and the $85 million remaining on the four years of his contract, is one. The other? None other than the underachieving second-year player out of Gonzaga, Domantas Sabonis.

Sabonis averaged 10.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists per 36 minutes while shooting a robust 39.9 percent from the field last season. Those aren’t horrible numbers for a 20-year-old rookie. However, when you’re one of two major pieces in a trade for a perennial All-Star, it’s not a promising start.

They also lost starting point guard Jeff Teague and shooting guard Monta Ellis, although the latter may be addition by subtraction.

In order to fill the void left by Teague’s and Ellis’ departure, they signed Darren Collison and Bojan Bogdanovic and traded for the underrated Cory Joesph. That will provide them with some nice backcourt depth, but not nearly the talent they had last season.

Myles Turner should also take another step in his production and will be ready to shoulder a heavier load. He’s a promising young player the team can build around moving forward.

The Pacers were able to win 42 games last season and land the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. Don’t expect them to equal that win total again as they will surely take a dip. However, they still have enough talent to easily surpass the Bulls.