Indiana Pacers officially acquire Obi Toppin via trade with New York Knicks
The Indiana Pacers announced on Friday that they have officially acquired power forward Obi Toppin in a trade with the New York Knicks.
In exchange for Toppin, the Pacers sent the Knicks second-round draft picks in 2028 and 2029. According to Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star, the picks will be the worst of the Pacers and Suns second rounders in 2028 and the worst of the Pacers and Wizards second rounders in 2029. Indiana acquired those extra picks in a draft-night trade with the Washington Wizards that also landed them Jarace Walker.
Toppin, the eighth overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, averaged 7.4 points and 2.8 rebounds per game this past season for the Knicks. He has rarely received consistent playing time throughout this career as New York has instead given minutes to Julius Randle and other veterans at the four spot often as they pursued wins. In Indiana, he will get more chances.
The blue and gold saw what Toppin can be at his best late in the 2022-23 season. In two battles with the Knicks, Toppin combined for 66 points and 10 rebounds, and he received 77 minutes of playing time across the two games. There were several players resting on both squads, but Toppin displayed how he can impact the game at his peak.
"You've heard rumors about Obi Toppin... those three guys are the league leaders in effective field goal percentage in transition," Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said of Toppin along with Bruce Brown and Tyrese Haliburton.
The 25-year-old is in the final season of his rookie-scale contract, and he will be paid $6.8 million this coming season. The Pacers had enough salary cap space to take in Toppin without sending back any matching salary. He could be a restricted free agent next summer.
Where the Dayton product could help the Pacers most is in transition. He is an excellent athlete who shines in the open floor, so on a Pacers team that ranked second in transition frequency this past season, he should fit right in. His effective field goal percentage this past season was 69.7%, a terrific number.
At this time, it is unclear if Toppin or Walker will be Indiana's starter at the four, but both have solid cases. Each player should split the duties at that spot, and that is more depth than Indiana has had in that role in recent seasons.
"When I saw the stat about the effective field goal percentage in transition with those three guys, that was an a-ha moment. It makes all these moves make perfect sense," Carlisle said of Toppin, along with Brown and Haliburton.
Toppin is already with his new team, who are currently in Las Vegas for Summer League action. The Pacers currently have 15 players on standard contracts as a result of their draft and free agency moves.
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