FanPost

The Spurs should trade LMA to Indiana

Introduction

Hello all, I am a new member on Pounding the Rock. I’m a life-long Spurs fan from San Antonio currently living in the Midwest who grew up watching the Big 3 throughout the early 2000s. I have been a regular reader of Pounding the Rock for a few years now and decided it was time to create an account and contribute my own ideas. I’m looking forward to getting to know y’all and discussing everything Spurs-related.

Objectives

When creating this trade, I tried to do a couple of things. First, this trade is designed to further the Spur’s youth movement. This trade proposal is less about winning in 2020-2021, and more about ensuring that the Spurs have the ability to build a promising core that can compete well into the future. I don’t think this is a particularly controversial goal, and I think the front office, with the Dejounte Murray extension and the way they have structured contracts after 2021, is on the board with that goal.

Second, and I’m painting with broad strokes here, but when looking at our young players, I find our backcourt much more promising than our frontcourt right now. Between Murray, Derrick White, Lonnie Walker IV, and Keldon Johnson, I’m feeling pretty good about our future. I think there’s a decent chance at least one of the four grows into an All-Star, and I think all of them have the potential to be solid rotation players or starters.

I’m a bit more concerned about our frontcourt. I think Jakob Poeltl is already a great back-up center, and could develop into a solid starter, but that’s where my list ends. I’m not sold on Luka Samanic, and while I think it makes sense for the Spurs to bring back Trey Lyles for the 2020-2021 season, I’m not sure he could ever be more than good bench player on a competitive team. A trade for a frontcourt player who could start right now and potentially grow into more is on the top of my list right now.

Finally, I tried to take off my silver and black tinged glasses and make this trade somewhat realistic. I have no idea whether or not that was successful but I’ll try to explain what I see as the pros and cons for both Indiana and San Antonio. This trade isn’t a coup, but rather a win-win situation for both teams involved. I’ll also make sure salaries roughly match.

Trade

LaMarcus Aldridge ($24 million in 2020-2021) and the 11th pick to Indiana for Myles Turner ($18 million in 2020-2021), T.J. Leaf ($4.3 million in 2020-2021), and the 51st pick.

How It Works for the Spurs

The Negative: There are two major costs to the Spurs on this one. First, they lose a chance to draft in the lottery for the first time since Tim Duncan. Second, they sacrifice some of their cap flexibility after the 2021 season. Overall, I think getting Turner would justify both of those costs.

The Positive: Myles Turner is a 24-year-old big man who plays defense, rebounds, and shoots 35% from three. He is a proven starter who could still develop into a borderline All-Star. He is athletic and could fit the more freewheeling style of play the Spurs adopted in the bubble. He is on a decent contract ($18 million/ year through 2022-2023) and fits our timeline. Also, he has Texas roots, hails from outside Dallas, and played college ball at the University of Texas.

In addition, this trade would give us a couple chances to swing for the fences. The 51st pick of the draft could be packaged with our second-round pick to move up to get a solid prospect at the end of the first round or beginning of the second.[1] In the deep 2020 draft, that would give us a chance to still land another young prospect. And T.J. Leaf[2], a former 2017 first round pick with one year left on his rookie contract (valued at 4.3 million), would give the Spurs a low-risk, high-reward opportunity to develop a young player with offensive gifts who just hasn’t been able to carve out a role with Indiana. If it works out and they teach him how to play defense, they resign him at the end of the season. If it doesn’t, they move on. At the very least, the overlap between Leaf’s and Samanic’s skill set might provide Samanic with the motivation to develop into a more dependable player.

How It Works for the Pacers

The Indiana Pacers are in an interesting spot right now. They don’t really know if they are competitive; they just got swept by a good Heat team, but they didn’t have Domantas Sabonis in the bubble. They also may only have this next year to figure things out; they have one year left with the sensational shooting guard Victor Oladipo, who has expressed that he is unlikely to resign with them after the 2020-2021 season. Finally, they don’t have a first-round pick in the 2020 draft, and don’t have much cap space, which means that it will be difficult for them to retool in the draft or free agency this year.

The Negative: The Pacers lose Myles Turner. He is their most successful draft pick this decade. However, while he’s been a solid starter, he hasn’t grown into a star yet, and when the rest of their starting line-up is Malcom Brogdon, Victor Oladipo, T.J. Warren, and Domantas Sabonis, he is the easiest starter for them to replace. If the Pacers want to retool for the 2020-2021 season, he’s probably at the centerpiece of any trade they make.

The Positive: This would work really well for the Pacers in the short and long term. In the short term, they get a veteran who would drastically improve one of the league’s worst half-court offenses in LaMarcus Aldridge and they would get a lottery pick to draft a rookie who could contribute off the bench immediately. The Pacers have no one on the books older than 28 in 2020-2021, and if the Pacers want to succeed in the playoffs with Oladipo in 2020-2021, LaMarcus could provide the veteran presence they need for a deep run. This trade also makes sense in the long-term. Oladipo is making $21 million in 2020-2021 and it is rumored he won’t resign with Indiana. That, couple with the $24 million that would come off the books after LaMarcus’ contract ends in 2020-2021, would create $45 million in cap space for the Pacers next summer. Without this trade, and with Turner’s contract on the books in 2021, they wouldn’t have the cap space to sign a marquee free agent. This would allow them to build an elite team around Brogdon, Warren, and Sabonis.

Possible Variation: This trade could also work with DeRozan being sent to Indiana and the Spurs getting Goga Bitadze (a frontcourt prospect with more potential) instead of Leaf. The Pacers could slot DeRozan at the 3, Warren at the 4, and Sabonis at the 5 if they thought the LMA/ Sabonis frontcourt pairing wouldn’t work.

Conclusion: Overall, the Pacers get a lottery pick and an one-year veteran All-Star rental to see what they can do while Oladipo is still in Indiana, while simultaneously creating flexibility in their post-Oladipo future. The Spurs get a solid young big man that would fit immediately into their youth movement and a couple of chances to swing for the fences. It would be a win-win for both teams. What do you think?


[1] I think the best-case scenario here would be trading two second round picks for the Knick’s 27th pick in the draft.

[2] It’s worth noting that I would prefer the Spurs trade for Goga Bitadze (the Pacer’s 2019 first round pick), but I think it’s more realistic the Pacer’s trade for Leaf. The Pacer’s apparently tried to shop Leaf at the February trade deadline this year.

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