Best and worst Pacers trades in history
The Indiana Pacers are reportedly trading for point guard Jeff Teague, who has spent his entire career with the Atlanta Hawks. Part of the deal sends guard George Hill to the Utah Jazz, who send the No. 12 draft pick to Atlanta.
How will this work out for the Pacers? Here's a look at the best and worst Pacers trades, compiled in the wake of last summer's trade of Roy Hibbert to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Good:
August 31, 2000: Traded Dale Davis to Portland for Jermaine O'Neal and Joe Kleine
One of the best trades in Pacers history, Indiana got a 22-year-old center/power forward in O'Neal, who would average 18.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.4 blocks for Indiana over the next eight seasons. The Pacers reached the postseason in six of O'Neal's eight seasons with the franchise.
Davis would average 7 points and 7 rebounds for Portland over the next four seasons.
Feb. 21, 1989: Traded Herb Williams to Dallas for Detlef Schrempf and a second round pick (Antonio Davis)
The Pacers pulled the trigger on a deal to acquire Detlef Schrempf, and the move paid off handsomely for Indiana.
The forward would average 18.2 points and 9.2 boards for in five seasons for the Pacers, earning his first All-Star selection in his final campaign with Indiana, 1992-93.
Davis would average 9 points and 6.6 rebounds in a six-year stint with Indiana.
Meanwhile, Williams' best years were behind him when the Pacers dealt him to Dallas. After averaging 15 points per game for Indiana in eight seasons, he began to decline, bottoming out with the Knicks a few years later.
Feb. 19, 2002 — Traded Travis Best, Norm Richardson, Jalen Rose and a second round pick (Lonny Baxter) to Chicago for Metta World Peace, Ron Mercer, Brad Miller and Kevin Ollie
Rose was a key member of the 2000 Pacers squad that reached the NBA Finals and had a very productive tenure with Indiana, but he was dealt to Chicago in a trade that netted the Pacers two future All-Stars.
World Peace (then Ron Artest) would become most well known for the "Malice at the Palace," in which he went into the stands at Detroit's Palace of Auburn Hills and fought with fans on November 19, 2004. The incident overshadowed his contributions on the court, where he was a tenacious defender.
Miller only played for the Pacers in 2002 and 2003, but earned an All-Star selection in the process, averaging 13 points and 8 rebounds in 02-03.
July 9, 2008: Acquired Maceo Baston, T.J. Ford, Rasho Nesterovic and the rights to Roy Hibbert from Toronto for Jermaine O'Neal and the rights to Nathan Jawai
The trade that made the Roy Hibbert era possible was a good one at first, and looked like a downright steal when Hibbert dominated the Miami Heat during the 2012-13 Eastern Conference finals (averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds in the 2013 playoffs overall).
But Hibbert's precipitous decline over the past two seasons, coupled with the Pacers' desire to change from a post-oriented game to the NBA's more prevalent style of smaller, faster play, led to Indiana striking a deal with the Lakers to trade Hibbert to Los Angeles.
While Hibbert didn't pan out in the long term, the deal was still a good one. O'Neal would never again approach the type of production he had with the Pacers, and the other players in the transaction ended up being inconsequential for the most part. Hibbert, for all his later flaws, helped Indiana reestablish itself as an Eastern Conference power with two consecutive trips to the conference finals against Miami in 2013 and 2014.
June 30, 1994: Traded Pooh Richardson, Malik Sealy and draft rights to Eric Piatkowski to Clippers for Mark Jackson and draft rights to Greg Minor
Mark Jackson was a solid point guard for the Pacers, and when he was traded to Indiana in 1994, little did he know he would be part of trade packages for the Pacers two more times.
Jackson played two and a half seasons for Indiana before being dealt to Denver along with Ricky Pierce and a draft pick, in exchange for Jalen Rose, Reggie Williams and a draft pick in June of 1996. Rose gave the Pacers a good return on their investment, averaging 14.2 points on 46 percent shooting over six seasons in Indiana.
After just 52 games with the Nuggets, Jackson was back in a Pacers uniform the next season. He was acquired in a deal that sent Vincent Askew, Eddie Johnson and second-round draft picks for 1997 and '98 to Denver. The Pacers also got LaSalle Thompson in that transaction.
Overall, Jackson was a solid point guard for Indiana, averaging 8.4 points and 8.1 assists over six seasons.
August 12, 1997: Traded Erick Dampier and Duane Ferrell to Golden State for Chris Mullin
Mullin's best days in the NBA were distant in the rearview mirror, but he did shoot 44 percent from beyond the arc during his two seasons in Indiana. At ages 35 and 36, Mullin -- a future Hall of Famer -- would average 9.4 points in 22 minutes.
Dampier wound up having a fairly productive career, spending the next seven seasons with the Warriors. The center averaged 9.5 points and 7.8 rebounds for Golden State before playing six seasons in Dallas and winding down his career with a season-long stint in both Atlanta and Miami.
Feb. 20, 2014: Traded Danny Granger and a future second-round draft pick to Philadelphia for Evan Turner and Lavoy Allen
After missing the 2012-13 season with knee problems, Granger was seeing himself squeezed out of the Pacers' flow on both ends of the court as Paul George ascended to superstar status and the team reached Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals without Granger.
Granger hasn't played much since, with the 76ers buying him out, Miami signing him and later trading him to the Suns for Goran Dragic, and just a few days ago, the Suns dealing Granger to Detroit.
Meanwhile, Evan Turner turned out to be a defensive liability for the Pacers, but Lavoy Allen became a strong big off the bench for Indiana, averaging 7.4 points and 8.1 rebounds for the Pacers in 22 minutes per game last season. Indiana re-signed Allen to a multi-year deal last Thursday.
Bad:
June 5, 1981: Acquired center Tom Owens from Portland for a 1984 first-round draft pick
That first-round pick became the second pick in the 1984 NBA draft. Had the Pacers held on to that selection, they could have drafted Michael Jordan.
Owens would only play one season for Indiana and retired after the 1982-83 campaign.
Feb. 1, 1977: Traded Darnell Hillman and a first round pick (Bernard King) to New York Nets for John Williamson
Losing Hillman didn't end up hurting the Pacers, but was significant because of how iconic a player Hillman -- also known as "Dr. Dunk" -- was for Indiana during the team's ABA years.
The first round pick that the Pacers sent to New York along with Hillman, however, turned out to be an NBA star: Bernard King wound up becoming a Hall of Famer after averaging 22.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in a career spent mostly with the New York Knicks and Washington Bullets.
The player Indiana got in return, John Williamson, produced for the Pacers (19.1 points per game), but was only with the team less than a year, getting traded the following January to, ironically, the New Jersey Nets.
Feb. 1, 1980: Traded Alex English and a first round pick (Carl Nicks) to Denver for George McGinnis
Perhaps there was some sentimentality involved in bringing George McGinnis, another ABA star for the Pacers in the early 1970s, back to the team. But this traded ended up backfiring badly for Indiana, as English would also go on to the Hall of Fame.
English would make eight straight All-Star teams following the trade, led the NBA in scoring during the 1982-83 season, and finished with a scoring average of 21.5 points per game over a 16-year career.
July 15, 2004: Acquired Stephen Jackson from Atlanta for Al Harrington
He would average 16.6 points per game during the two-plus seasons he wore the Blue and Gold. But the significance of this Pacers acquisition would be felt on November 19, 2004, when Jackson went into the crowd at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit and, along with Artest, fought with fans. The "Malice at the Palace," as it became known, altered the course of the Pacers franchise for years to come.
November 1, 1993: Traded Detlef Schrempf to Seattle for Derrick McKey and Gerald Paddio
Schrempf was very productive for the Pacers, but after posting career bests in points (19.1), assists (6.0) and steals (1.0), he was traded to the Sonics. He averaged 16.6 points and 6.3 boards in six seasons in Seattle.
McKey would average 8.8 points and 4.4 rebounds in eight seasons for the Blue and Gold, helping Indiana reach the playoffs in six of those seasons.
Paddio played in all of seven games for Indiana.
August 1, 1999: Traded Antonio Davis to Toronto for the rights to Jonathan Bender
Davis would go on to average nearly a double-double (12.9 points, 9.2 rebounds) in six seasons for the Raptors. Bender turned out to be a bust for Indiana, averaging 5.5 points and 2.2 boards in under 15 minutes a game for seven seasons with the Pacers.
June 23, 2011: Traded the draft rights to Kawhi Leonard, Davis Bertans and Erazem Lorbek to San Antonio for George Hill
In one of the most significant trades the Pacers have ever made, Indiana lost a future NBA FInals MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in Leonard, who has become a bona fide star with the Spurs. Hill has been a serviceable guard for the Pacers, and has functioned well at times as a facilitator for Indiana's offense, but he's no Leonard, of course.
Neutral:
Sept. 8, 1992: Traded Chuck Person and Micheal Williams to Minnesota for Sam Mitchell and Pooh Richardson
Person averaged 19 points and six rebounds for the Pacers when Indiana dealt him to the Timberwolves following the 1991-92 campaign, his sixth with Indiana.
Person wouldn't put up numbers quite that high after leaving the Pacers, but what Indiana got in return was a forward who averaged 6.2 points in 16.3 minutes (Mitchell) and a point guard who would post 10.3 points per game (though also 7.3 assists) in two seasons before joining the Clippers (Richardson).
July 27, 2013: Acquired Luis Scola from Phoenix in exchange for Gerald Green, Miles Plumlee and future first-round draft pick
Green and Plumlee took advantage of more playing time in Phoenix, but neither had a viable future in Indiana. Scola provided a nice boost of the bench for the Pacers with his midrange jumper in 2013-14, but second half shooting woes led to a dip in his field goal percentage, which ended up being 47 percent. It was even lower in '14-'15 (46.7 percent), a far cry from the 53 percent he shot from the floor for the Rockets in 2008-09.