Complete 2017 NBA offseason grades for all 30 teams
Indiana Pacers
Key additions: Victor Oladipo (trade), Domantas Sabonis (trade), Darren Collison (free agency) Bojan Bogdanovic (free agency), Cory Joseph (trade), T.J. Leaf (draft), Ike Anigbogu (draft), Damien Wilkins (free agency)
Key subtractions: Paul George (trade), Monta Ellis (free agency), C.J. Miles (sign-and-trade) Lavoy Allen (free agency), Kevin Seraphin (free agency)
No, the Paul George trade/highway robbery doesn’t look any better after watching what other superstars went for on the trade market. Even without leverage, if the Indiana Pacers had done half as well as the Cavs did with their Kyrie Irving trade, that would’ve been fine.
Unfortunately, settling for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis — even if you’re high on both players — doesn’t cut it when both the Cavs and Celtics were about to start tripping over themselves for him. No one should buy that Cleveland — desperate to make one more title run to keep LeBron happy — or Boston — a team whose prestigious history and promising future could’ve convinced him to re-sign — were that afraid of giving up assets for a one-year rental.
So instead, now the Pacers are in no man’s land without their superstar: not good enough to be a legitimate playoff team, but not bad enough to tank. Hopefully a year full of Myles Turner as “the guy” makes up for it.
Bourguet Grade: D