Pacers Have Received 'Significant Offers' for Starter Ahead of Trade Deadline: Report

Should Indiana offload this core piece next week?

May 19, 2024; New York, New York, USA; Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) reacts with center Myles Turner (33) and guard Andrew Nembhard (2) and forward Aaron Nesmith (23) during the second quarter of game seven of the second round of the 2024 NBA playoffs at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Should the Indiana Pacers offload a core young starter by the NBA's trade deadline next week?

Per Fred Katz of The Athletic, the 25-20 Pacers have gotten "significant offers" about starting small forward Andrew Nembhard with the deadline looming. As Katz notes, Nembhard's contract extension kicks in for the 2025-26 season, which will put the cost-conscious Indiana into luxury tax terrain.

Dumping Nembhard could help the Pacers avoid punitive expenditures, but would it also hurt any shot Indiana has of winning a title in the near future when All-Stars Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam are still in their primes?

"But talks haven’t gone anywhere, according to league sources in contact with Indiana," Katz cautions. "The Pacers love Nembhard, are confident about the current roster and could break financial tradition next season, paying the luxury tax for the first time in two decades."

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Katz notes that Nembhard is making just $2 million this year, but he'll rake in $18.1 million next season.

"Trading Nembhard today for a productive player who also makes a small number could slice eight figures off Indiana’s 2025-26 payroll," Katz writes.

Katz explains why Nembhard, a former second round draft pick, has emerged as a possible trade piece for Indiana ahead of his impending pay raise. The league's new CBA has language that prohibits players on rookie scale deals being ditched due to a forthcoming extension — if they were selected in the first round.

"Because he wasn’t a first-rounder, Nembhard does not fall victim to a niche provision in the collective bargaining agreement called 'base-year compensation,' an eccentricity that often kills the ability to trade a young player whose salary spikes from one year to the next because of a significant extension," Katz adds. "But the Pacers aren’t thinking the same way."

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To hear Katz tell it, Nembhard is viewed by Indiana as one of their most imperative foundational pieces. Katz writes that Indiana's scoring improves by 15 points per 100 possessions on the hardwood when Nembhard plays, which is the fourth-biggest point differential yielded by any player, per Cleaning the Glass.

A big part of that stems from Nembhard's elite wing defense.

Elite defensive play by Andrew Nembhard.

Sprints between guarding three different players, forces pass out of post, then sprints to intercept + save pass on weak side.

Just superb. pic.twitter.com/GkrCVP0QUQ

— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) January 9, 2025

He's especially effective against lead guards.

I wrote a comprehensive guide on why the Pacers are playing better on defense, looking ahead at to what degree they are better as a defensive team

Featured: Andrew Nembhard's newfound micro-skill to pull the chair against star guards on drives (yes, drives)

Free link in🧵 pic.twitter.com/MUPw2zQUDk

— Caitlin Cooper (@C2_Cooper) January 8, 2025

After a 10-15 season start, the Pacers have won 16 of their last 21 bouts. Indiana went to the Eastern Conference Finals last spring, and is a young, talented, deep club that has a real shot at making noise in the years to come.

"This deadline, along with however they handle the upcoming summer, will tell the world how much. Indiana is sneakily in one of the league’s most interesting situations heading into next season, when it becomes expensive (possibly too expensive, given the franchise’s history)," Katz observes.

This season, the 6-foot-5 wing is averaging 10.6 points on .465/.333/.745 shooting splits, 5.2 assists and 3.5 rebounds across 30 healthy games.

More Pacers:

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