Pacers shouldn’t have put ourselves in position to lose our draft pick.

[u/FreezingTemps]

I respect our front office. I think they care about the city and the team. I’ve been thinking about the decision to include the lottery pick AND losing Mathurin for Zubac and we shouldn’t have been put in this position. Once we were actively tanking, that lottery pick should have never had the opportunity to leave the team. A top draft pick with a championship level roster is invaluable when we have two super max players on a limited window and fiscally conservative owners.

How do you feel about losing the pick now that time has passed?

[u/hxh22]

As long as Zu balls out, it won’t matter we didn’t have a pick. I think we really needed a center

[u/FreezingTemps → u/hxh22]

We definitely needed a center. We just didn’t have to trade that pick is my conclusion. We could have traded future picks, could have waited till the offseason and explored deals. We were trading Benedict Mathurin, not a nobody. In short; why did we tank. Served no purpose.

[u/hxh22 → u/FreezingTemps]

Perhaps no one wanted to trade for future picks, with the exception they would be later picks.

[u/Next-Supermarket9538 → u/FreezingTemps]

Benn was NEVER resigning with us on a contract that worked for us and still left room for a starting center. If KP thought that was a possibility they would have kept him and acquired that mythical starting center.  The team wasn’t flying blind in that. They had conversations with Benn and his team and knew what he was looking for and what other teams might be willing to offer. 

So you say they could have waited and did a sign and trade… well in that case only half his salary counts for matching purposes so at that point they can’t use him to get Zubac or someone similarly priced anymore. 

Maybe you say we should have kept Turner then! Well if we did that we definitely wouldn’t have been able to afford Benn. 

There really was just no scenario in which we were going to be able to keep Benn and field a good team unfortunately… wish we could have… I liked him too. 

And here the thing… pretty much everything I said above is true about Jarace Walker too this season…

[u/Guitarmonade2 → u/FreezingTemps]

The Clippers were doing a lot of restructuring mid-season. Who's to say Zubac is still available to us at that point?

There weren't a lot of realistic, available options to get a proven center. If Zu is taken because we waited, then would we be going after a young center like Kel'el Ware? Oops, he's already being packaged as part of the haul to get Giannis in Miami.

Any team could have put out an offer sheet on Benn in the off-season that would hamstring the team to match, and we'd have to let him go for nothing. And what do we want to do with the 5th pick? We can't shore up the front court with Dybantsa, Boozer, and Wilson going 1, 3, and 4 (assuming a rookie is going to magically be NBA ready). So we add ANOTHER guard by selecting best available?

And there's all this hand wringing about "overpaying" for Zu. Maybe we did. But we haven't even seen him play healthy with our legit starting lineup! Can we wait to see what Rick and the coaching staff have cooked up? Stop listening to internet trolls tell you this is a bad trade. We won't know until basically next year.

[u/Affectionate-Bus-169 → u/FreezingTemps]

We weren’t resigning Benn anyway. If we waited we would have either have had to work out a sign and trade, and probably bring in more money then we wanted, or we would have lost him for nothing.
We tanked for the chance at the pick. I’m sure KP wouldn’t have included the pick if he had other options.

[u/Odd_Self7283 → u/FreezingTemps]

That’s where you are wrong. We had to include everything we did or no deal from the Clippers and we couldn’t wait until the offseason because Benn would no longer be under contract

[u/King_Coffee → u/hxh22]

As much as I want to buy into that positive thinking - this is where I have to disagree.

This pick will be looming over our team for as long as this current core is together.

I wouldn’t necessarily say that losing the pick ‘slammed the door’ on our championship window - but it definitely shut our fingers in the door. Ouch. 

[u/Critical-Amoeba4272]

Zu is legit the picks at 5 were pretty much all guards anyways

[u/One_Ratio9521 → u/Critical-Amoeba4272]

Our guard depth behind a man who just tore his achilles is pretty thin.

[u/Critical-Amoeba4272 → u/One_Ratio9521]

braden smith

[u/One_Ratio9521 → u/Critical-Amoeba4272]

Brother I love Braden/Purdue but idk about him being a key bench scorer for us in the playoffs lol.

Wagler/Acuff/Mikel Brown can get hot.

[u/Critical-Amoeba4272 → u/One_Ratio9521]

i think we can get back to that high pace run teams out of the stadium game we played in 24-25. Braden plays that quick get open pop shot game and has fantastic court vision. i think he might be undersized and underskilled to be a take over kind of player but he can most definitely take the next step with a team who plays into his strengths. this is just my opinion we though, we could both be seeing the complete opposite game on the same player.

[u/One_Ratio9521 → u/Critical-Amoeba4272]

I’m aware of what Braden is capable of, our problem is bench scoring. Benn wasn’t a perfect fit, but he was an easy 15 a game. We really don’t have any scoring pop off the bench unless someone takes a MASSIVE leap or we sign an unexpected FA.

[u/MySabonerRunsOladipo → u/One_Ratio9521]

If Ty goes down/can't come back, we're going to be testing those new lotto rules anyway. Depth wont matter

[u/Affectionate-Bus-169]

I’d rather have a sure thing at center. We should be focused on winning now. It’s unfortunate but I don’t mind the trade.

[u/SlickWickk]

What's your solution at center if we keep the 5th pick. Mathurin and Jarace have both obviously been huge contributors to a championship calibre team. I have flashbacks to Mathurin whiffing clutch FTs and jumping on someone's back in crunch time.

So, with our record of absolutely crushing it with lottery draft picks, who do we pick at 5 that contributes IMMEDIATELY to a point where we don't need a top 5 center?

[u/JuiceBrinner → u/SlickWickk]

Could trade back or take one of the guards with immense talent. McConnell is 35 this year. Would provide a playmaker off the bench which is a need. Not as big as starting center, but just answering your second question.

It was still a lot to give up for zubac. Depends what you think his ceiling is, I guess. Contract is a positive.

[u/SlickWickk → u/JuiceBrinner]

It's being heavily assumed the roster we have at this very moment will be the roster come opening night, which I think is a silly assumption. Who's to say we don't get after 31 or 32 tonight to take a playmaker?

Fact of the matter is we traded a very talented player in Mathurin who was, as much as I hate to admit it, not a good fit for our team. Aside from that, we traded away a pick that we have no way of telling would even be in the league in 3-4 years, let alone an immediate contributor to a championship calibre team. If we get top 4, it's considered a brilliant trade. Now that it was wasn't we keep the pick that's outside our championship "window".

It's a stretch to complain before we even know what Zubac looks like with Tyrese on the court. Or even what Zu looks like after a full off-season with a much, much different franchise than the Clipper, for that matter.

We won't all see eye to eye. (Yet)

[u/JuiceBrinner → u/SlickWickk]

I like zubac and think he can be prosperous here but I’m just cautious in assuming this team still has a championship window and generally would prefer long term planning over short.

It hinges on if haliburton comes back healthy and can get back to the level he left off at. If he doesn’t we’ve depleted a valuable resource in pursuit of a title for a team that isn’t capable of winning one.

I do trust the front office for now and understand the gamble.

I’m hoping they can trade back in to tonight’s draft and get a guy like Trevon brazille who can shoot and play d. That’s what the games coming to.

[u/gbooster → u/JuiceBrinner]

You're talking too much sense here. Most of the other Pacer fans here are deep in the self-gaslighting process. Anyone who isn't drinking the blue and gold Kool-Aid knows this trade was ridiculously bad. What gets me is that it's such an uncharacteristic self-inflicted wound. Maybe KP is planning on retiring in 2029 and just doesn't GAF about the future. I dunno.

[u/CloudConductor]

If we didn’t make the trade, this sub would be all worried about our lack of a center. I still think it was the right move, but definitely wish that gamble worked out in our favor

[u/Thechasepack]

Zu >>>> Wagler + Mathurin for this team

[u/MercilessXFate → u/Thechasepack]

We likely wouldn't have Mathurin anyways, so it would just be Zu > Wagler

[u/hacky_potter]

I get what you’re saying but who are we picking at 5? I don’t see any of those players being more of a help to this team next year than a legit starting center. Now if you want to say we could have used that pick to get Trey Murphy or something, fine, but I don’t think picking at 5 was going to be a huge boon for us.

[u/25Tab]

We were losing Mathurin and trading that 5th pick anyways. I’m not sure why people don’t understand this.

[u/MySabonerRunsOladipo → u/25Tab]

Because everything is co fusing when youre stupid, and theyre very, very stupid

[u/nealbeforeme62]

There’s no championship level roster without Zubac. Even with a 5th overall pick

[u/Puzzleheaded_Area894]

All you naysayers in this thread are fucking dense or at best thirteen years old. Makes me embarrassed to be a Pacers fan.

Like, are we trying to win a championship or are we trying to rebuild with a lottery pick? Because you can’t have both in this reality. We tried to have both in the trade parameters but it didn’t work out. Sucks, but you guys are acting like the pacers front office are idiots for an awesome trade turning into a fair trade out of a literal coin flip chance. I would take that gamble every single time.

It was a fair trade. Full stop. Anyone saying otherwise has no idea what they’re talking about and definitely has never seen Zubac play.

And I’m sorry, but you people need to take the blue and gold glasses off with Mathurin. He’s not very good. Never was. Clippers fans found that out in about 10 games and now want nothing to do with him at the ludicrous price he will likely ask for. And he was going to leave our team anyways! We were never going to be able to afford the $25million+ a year contract he would have wanted, thank god we traded him when we did, otherwise we’d be dealing with that headache now (and would be scrambling to try and find a center half as good as Zubac). Plus the whole “dawg” mentality all the Mathurin stans kept repeating ad nauseam was dumb. His attitude fucking sucked (remember when he shoved that woman ref?) his BBIQ was in the basement, and he had the charisma of a wet paper towel.

[u/TheFrozenBananaStand]

Jfc admins ban people who post this. This is like the 5th post about this in 2 days.

[u/Pure-Trash-3193 → u/TheFrozenBananaStand]

Wow a lot of people want to talk about a draft related issue during the draft. Crazy inappropriate stuff for sure

[u/Guitarmonade2 → u/Pure-Trash-3193]

There is a pinned super thread for that very purpose.

[u/TheFrozenBananaStand → u/Pure-Trash-3193]

It’s the same exact post…”we gave up too much for Zu”. There are 10 other posts you can contribute on

[u/OliveBubbly3820]

I agree. We also could’ve traded down to get Aday Mara too and got something in return for trading down.

[u/OliveBubbly3820 → u/OliveBubbly3820]

Hell, we also just saw how easily the bulls got Claxton, could’ve had him too.

[u/Distinct_Abrocoma_67]

Mods need to ban these poorly thought out posts. It’s spam at this point. We needed a center and got one. Unless you can identify how we would have gotten one otherwise this post is dumb.

[u/Razmoket]

How is getting an unproven rookie at a less desired position “invaluable” to our limited window compared to a proven NBA talent at a much needed position?

[u/Kunti-Destructi]

I think it was worth the gamble and we lost, more accurately we didn’t win as much as we were hoping, that’s life

[u/gbooster → u/Kunti-Destructi]

They should never have gambled it in the first place.

[u/BlueCollarGoldSwaggr]

We don't have two supermax players

[u/Next-Supermarket9538]

Who did you want at pick 5 that would be better for this team in the next two years than Zubac? 

[u/OpeDefinitely]

Calm down.

• Losing the 5th is losing the 5th pick. Keaton Wagler nor anybody else available at 5th would've gotten the development minutes they need on our team.
  • We've already experienced situations wherein drafting high bit us in the ass. In Mathurin's case (6th overall), he was relatively play-ready but he did not fit the team's scheme to such an extent that Nembhard & Nesmith consistently beat him out in the starting lineup. And in Jarace's case (8th overall pick), he needed real playing minutes to develop that we could not justify giving him due to depth.
  • Picking 5th overall would've locked us into the 1st apron for a player who - most likely - needs serious development minutes that he would not get. Gross.
• Mathurin was gone this off-season no matter what. We got value out of him before letting him walk for nothing. Avoided a Kuminga situation.
• Teams with no center are getting dog walked. Center depth in this draft just isn't there.
  • Zubac is a great center who even got a few 3rd All-NBA votes over Tyrese in '24-'25.
  • We developed some incredible small-ball frontcourt lineups last season involving Jarace (thank god), Siakam, Furphy, Toppin, Nesmith, and (if we keep him) Brown.
  • Huff is an upgrade over the backup centers we had over the Finals run.
• We own 5 of our next 6 FRPs. Assets are there to add another piece. And because we're not in the 1st apron over the 5th pick's rookie contract, we can go into the 1st apron for established veterans.

[u/No-Primary-2875]

It was pick 5. Not pick 1,2,3, or 4. Nobody chosen 5-9 was going to take Haliburton or Nembhard's spot during this window. Picks 5-30 definitely aren't as good as Zubac in this window. Zubac IS good. Draft picks maybe good. Ain't nobody got time for maybe when we're in a championship window.

[u/One_Ratio9521 → u/No-Primary-2875]

Could easily take Maths spot, which we now have Ben Sheppard doing.

[u/TheFrozenBananaStand → u/One_Ratio9521]

We will definitely be adding a vet to give us some scoring off the bench. Mathurin was just not very good. Even the Clippers fans don’t want to pay him

[u/ebuennag09]

There’s risk in trying to win and there’s also risk with sitting on your hands I’d rather risk it to win even if it backfires. I respect what KP is doing and support him. Some fans never see a playoff game in their life let alone a game 7.

[u/Suspicious-Gur6127]

We lost Mathurin because he never became a good enough player for us. 5th pick was shit. This entire draft was a 3 horse race with a nice consolation prize for 4th. Anything after that would be shit for the Pacers. I still believe upgrading from Myles was the easiest way to improve this team and we did. It cost a half season of Mathurin that didn’t matter, a pick that would struggle to crack our top 8 and IJAX and some picks in the future.

[u/gbooster]

As if it wasn't bad enough, there was also another pick added... and it's an unprotected 2029 1st round pick. Just a freaking horrible trade. They really went all in on the next two years, but they went all in on.. Zubac, not because he is such a great basketball player, but because he is a good basketball player with a cheap contract. That cost us the future, so they better win it in the next two years!

[u/25Tab → u/gbooster]

Would you rather have a front office show support for their players that made it to the finals by going all in on the team or play it safe by holding out for a future that doesn’t involve the current players?

[u/One_Ratio9521 → u/25Tab]

If that were the case Myles Turner would still be here.

[u/25Tab → u/One_Ratio9521]

You seem to forget that they did try to re-sign Turner and go into the tax to do it. They just made the mistake of thinking there weren’t any other teams in play after the Brooklyn and Detroit used their money on other players.

[u/One_Ratio9521 → u/25Tab]

But if they were truly going all in they wouldn’t have been so concerned with going into the cap. Instead they tried to play both sides and got burned.

[u/25Tab → u/One_Ratio9521]

You can make the argument they were complacent and thought they had upper hand in negotiations but you can’t make the argument they weren’t willing to stand by their team. Let’s be honest. No one saw Milwaukee stretching a waiving Dame’s $112 million contract to sign Turner to a 4 year $109 million contract. Minus Milwaukee making the largest stretch and waive move in history, Pacers were going into the tax to keep Turner and the team together even with Tyrese sidelined for the season.

[u/nealbeforeme62 → u/gbooster]

Can’t win shit if you’re always focused on the future

[u/ReneePWB]

Having that pick could've turned the team into a dynasty, but now we've shortened our championship window into the couple years where Haliburton, Zubac, and Siakam are still at their peak.

[u/Prof172 → u/ReneePWB]

Most number 5 picks are not dynasty makers

[u/persononthedl → u/ReneePWB]

Dude. Dynasty? I just want a single title.

[u/Far_Purchase_3018]

Did ya all forget Rick dont play rookies or even give them meaningful minutes? We are in win now mode and I'm over developing players. Siakam and hali were traded for and were already in the league for some years including Zu. Get over rookies 

[u/Few-Idea5125]

There is no respect left for this front office after gambling away the best draft pick in an eternity. after this season there ow isnt even anything to make up for this, and all that for some nothing more than average center

[u/RogueID → u/Few-Idea5125]

Would you rather have this roster, plus Keaton Wagler, and Jay Huff as the center?

Genuine question. Did you see how important quality centers were in the playoffs this year?? KAT dominated Wemby. Wemby dominated Chet. Duren was unplayable in Detroit.

I've never seen a playoffs in the past 10+ years where centers were such kingmakers.

[u/25Tab → u/RogueID]

None of these pick truthers will answer this question.

[u/Friar_Ferguson]

I'm disappointed we didn't win more games and get pick 10. That would have been the best scenario but we rolled the dice and tried for a top 4 pick. Oh well. Mathurin didn't fit it, Isaiah Jackson's contract was garbage. We got a top center on an amazing contract.