Early look at the 2026 draft

[Roy H.]

"I'm really sorry to all our fans," Pritchard posted on X on Sunday, a short time after Indiana received the bad news at the league's annual draft lottery in Chicago. "I own taking this risk. Surprised it came up 5th after this year. I thought we were due some luck. But please remember - this team deserved a starting center to compete with the best teams next year. We have always been resilient."

That's candid.  He may as well come out and say "I made a really crappy trade".

Accountability, I like that. Better than Nico doubling down on trading Luka for AD. We don't know if it's a crappy trade yet. Pacers looking to contend with both Haliburton and Zubac healthy after all.

Clippers are more likely to Clippers the #5 pick so we'll see.

I had thought the pick was top-5 protected, to coincide with there supposedly being five great prospects in the draft.  I don't think giving up a top-five pick for a 29 year old center is good value.

[Who]

"I'm really sorry to all our fans," Pritchard posted on X on Sunday, a short time after Indiana received the bad news at the league's annual draft lottery in Chicago. "I own taking this risk. Surprised it came up 5th after this year. I thought we were due some luck. But please remember - this team deserved a starting center to compete with the best teams next year. We have always been resilient."

That's candid.  He may as well come out and say "I made a really crappy trade".

Accountability, I like that. Better than Nico doubling down on trading Luka for AD. We don't know if it's a crappy trade yet. Pacers looking to contend with both Haliburton and Zubac healthy after all.

Clippers are more likely to Clippers the #5 pick so we'll see.

I had thought the pick was top-5 protected, to coincide with there supposedly being five great prospects in the draft.  I don't think giving up a top-five pick for a 29 year old center is good value.

It's not good but ... I am not sure it is that bad either -- mainly because of where Indiana is. They are a title contender. They have a fantastic PG already in Haliburton. Most of the prospects in the 5-10 range are guards. Most are PGs. Not good fits.

So, if they had decided to trade the 5th pick for a veteran instead ... what level of veteran would they have gotten?

Indy are locked in at PG (Hali) and PF (Siakam). Nembhard and Nesmith are good starters. Center is an obvious trouble position.

So looking at centers. The 5th pick isn't enough to get them up to to Sengun or Towns. Once you drop down a level from them, Zubac is about as good as anyone else. I don't think you get Clingan out of POR. Or Duren out of DET. Gobert is older again (33-34yo). Zubac, Hartenstein, J Allen. Zubac is about as good as you get.

Looking at SFs. I wonder if the 5th pick could have landed Trey Murphy III. Maybe, maybe not. Next level down is guys like Toumani Camara or Jaden McDaniels. Got a shot at them.

Looking at SGs. I don't think they would go after another guard because Nembhard has such great chemistry on both ends of the court with Haliburton. Maybe they could convince Orlando to part with Bane for the 5th pick since ORL had such a disappointing year. Might be hard to make that work financially (matching Bane's salary). Not sure. Maybe NAW from ATL. Similar skill-set to Nembhard with superior outside shooting. Herb Jones?

I don't know Indiana would have gotten much more than Zubac if trading the 5th pick for a veteran. And I don't think those top prospects (mostly PGs) suit their team well either. Maybe Nate Ament although he doesn't look ready to help a contender anytime soon.

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I'd be more concerned about the value if it was a rebuilding team.

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Edit: D Sabonis? Would the 5th pick be enough to get Sabonis. That would be a strong offer if SAC did decide to blow it up. Not clear whether they will do that or not though.

Sabonis played in Indy too. Well liked there. He would fit their offense well with his passing ability & high post play.

Like with Bane the salary might be a tough match. $40mil. Not sure who Indy would have to package together to make that work financially. Looks like it would be O Toppin, Nesmith, McConnel, Mathurin and the 5th pick for D Sabonis or D Bane. They would lose all of their depth.

Zubac and that cheaper contract is a big plus for Indy allowing them to keep their quality depth.

[Who]

I wonder if the Clippers trade that 5th pick.

If they decide the best available talents are PGs and they already have Garland, do they keep both? Or do they trade Garland? Or trade the 5th pick?

Or maybe package both together and try to get a bigger star than Garland? Either to play as Kawhi's #2 option or to give them a better star to rebuild the team around than Garland is.

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Would Garland and the 5th pick put them in the Giannis trade race? Giannis and Kawhi at forward. Mathurin off the bench. Not much else on the team.

Garland and the 5th pick for Sengun? Maybe.
Garland and the 5th pick for Jaylen? Doubt it.
Garland and the 5th pick for F Wagner and something?

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That 5th pick is a great pick if you need a PG.

Not sure it is that valuable if you don't want a PG. Oddly enough the Clippers (Garland) and the Pacers (Haliburton) find themselves in the same boat here.

[radiohead]

Utah has so many assets. I?d be happy if Brad can pry Kessler away from them without letting JB go. Just a minor trade. If they want JB then Markkanen & the second pick should be the starting offer?

[Phantom255x]

Utah has so many assets. I?d be happy if Brad can pry Kessler away from them without letting JB go. Just a minor trade. If they want JB then Markkanen & the second pick should be the starting offer?

I would love Kessler. I would consider trading White to them for Kessler and another player. I think Utah will try to offload JJJ and/or Markannen anyways in other deals to offload money, but White could be a nice veteran for them to add and they could probably try to start building a team around George, Collier, #2 pick, Filipowski and Bailey with White as a nice veteran to guide them as well. White could be a good mentor to Bailey too. A move like that could also offload some money on the Celtics end, even if it's like 5-6M in savings.

[Celtics4ever]

Danny will  be hard to deal with, folks.  He drives a hard bargain and is compelled to win.

Kessler is a restricted free agent.  This year.

He cannot defend Embiid.  Joel Embiid has averaged 40.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists in 3 games versus Walker Kessler in his career.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/embiid-vs-walker-kessler

I do think he would be an upgrade over Queta.  But I think Embiid did well because he was rested before the series against more than anything.  He was more human against the Knicks with his usual breakdown of performance.

[Celtics4ever]

DELETE please