Indiana Pacers: 3 trades team should make before deadline

1. Jrue Holiday

The Pelicans appear doomed to embark upon a sad fire sale. Since they’ve already resigned themselves to a present without AD, it’s clear that this is a franchise that should be planning a teardown and subsequent rebuild, not a playoff push. If the 13th-place, 23-29 Pelicans have appeared more or less doomed to miss the playoffs even with a perennial MVP candidate like Anthony Davis, the odds of them making it without him are pretty much zilch. Thus, transitioning away from solid veterans serves as the logical next step.

The Pelicans need to release 2018 All-Defensive First Teamer (and 2013 All-Star) Jrue Holiday from their clutches too. Holiday confessed that “90 percent” of the reason he stayed with the Pelicans in 2017 (after considering similar contracts from the Pacers and the Dallas Mavericks) was Davis. With AD forcing his way out of town, Holiday deserves his own chance for a reset.

Adding Holiday to the Pacers would fortify the point guard position with a terrific and established veteran, who would thrive in their active system. This season in New Orleans, the 6’4″, 205-pound Holiday boasts career-best averages of 21.2 points, 8.0 assists and 4.9 boards a game. He is being wasted on a top-heavy squad whose fifth-best player is… Elfrid Payton.

Though this deal comes saddled with several expiring contracts from Indiana, it also delivers three intriguing young-ish players under team control in Sabonis, the younger Aaron Holiday and Doug McDermott, in addition to the Pacers’ first round draft pick.

Moore is averaging a respectable 12.5 points, 2.5 boards and 2.0 assists per game. His shooting percentages include 76 percent shooting from the charity stripe, 48.3 percent from the field, and a terrific 41.7 percent from deep. He would function as a reliable Oladipo backup.

Holiday is younger (only 28) and better on both sides of the ball than Mike Conley at this point in their respective careers, he’s a better defender than McCollum, and has proven in NOLA that he can effectively toggle between the lead guard spot and off-ball duties.

We’ve seen how brilliant Holiday can look when fully engaged, as he was during the Pellies’ aforementioned obliteration of McCollum and the Blazers last season. Though Holiday has had more health concerns than McCollum, he gets the nod here because A) he should be easier to pry from the New Orleans front office and B) he will be under contract for an extra year, assuming he opts into the final season on his deal in 2021-22. (Spoiler alert: He will.)

Why would the Pelicans make this deal? They have a bad record at present, but they should want a horrible one to position themselves for a high-level lottery pick. Holiday and Moore are two of their best non-Anthony Davis assets. It’s time for the tank to begin, and if the incoming Pacers they acquire play too well, they can simply pull a Cleveland and strategically shut them down.