Who Wants to Trade For a Pacer?

The Indiana Pacers are apparently ready to blow it all up. Sham Charania and Bob Kravitz are reporting Indiana is willing to move Caris LeVert, Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis. That's huge news and could wind up helping a number of teams.

The Pacers are 10-16 to start the year and look nothing like a playoff team. The franchise wants to find more playing time for Chris Duarte and Isaiah Jackson moving forward. That means clearing roster space.

Sabonis is the most attractive piece Indiana has. An All-Star in 2019, he's currently averaging 17.9 points, 12 rebounds and 4.1 assists. While his numbers are down a bit this year on a bad team, he's a 25-year-old versatile big who is under contract through 2024. Plenty of teams would move key assets for him.

Turner looked like a rising star in 2017, but has since fallen off the map. The 25-year-old is currently averaging 12.6 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game and has the highest PER of his career (19.02). But he wouldn't garner the haul Sabonis would because his upside is much lower. He's under contract through 2023 and due $17.5 million a year.

LeVert was excellent in 35 games last season after the Pacers acquired him as a piece of the four-way James Harden deal. He averaged 20.7 points, 4.9 assists and 4.6 rebounds while looking like a leader on the floor. Now he's fallen off a cliff, averaging only 14.9 points, 2.9 assists and 2.7 rebounds as others on the roster have surpassed him. LeVert is under contract through next season and due $18.8 million.

The NBA trade landscape is fascinating right now because so many contending teams are over the luxury tax threshold. Nine franchises are above the tax limit right now and all are the kind of teams that could use one of the Pacers' players. That makes working out a deal that much more difficult.

Teams below the tax that could have interest in Sabonis are the San Antonio Spurs, New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks. The Denver Nuggets are below the threshold and could attempt to spring for LeVert to give their lineup some offense with Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. out. Meanwhile, the Portland Trail Blazers are currently looking for anything they can find to help Damian Lillard.

Plenty of teams over the tax threshold would be interested in the Pacers' trio, the question would be finding a deal that was amenable to the Pacers. Indiana likely wants a significant number of draft assets and could refuse to be saddled with an onerous contract in return.

The Pacers are very publicly announcing a fire sale. We'll see how this plays out over the next few weeks.