After getting the number one seed in the NBA playoffs and quietly bowing out of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Indiana Pacers are a team that desperately needs a makeover.
That makeover could start by possibly trading big man Roy Hibbert but here’s the catch. Hibbert is owed $30.4 million over the next two seasons. What team would want to take on that kind of salary plus a guy who wasn’t mentally there in the playoffs?
According to Sean Deveney of the Sporting News, multiple front-office sources are saying that the Pacers are trying to find a new place for Hibbert. Here is more from the Sporting News:
But, according to multiple front-office sources, the Pacers have quietly sought out possible new landing spots for their enigmatic big man.
“I would say they’ve been doing that, but quietly,” one front-office source said.
The fact that the Pacers are doing this at all shows that they are trying to make a culture change in the locker room. This is what one general manager told the Sporting News:
They’re open to making major changes, if they’re there,” one general manager told Sporting News. “I think they’d be disappointed to see that same core group back intact, so it is a matter of, how drastic can the changes they make be? Moving Hibbert for multiple pieces would be a pretty drastic change, but they’re asking.”
Let’s just look at the Pacers starting lineup from last season starting off with George Hill. Hill was okay but the Pacers are trying to move him as well. Lance Stephenson was offered a five-year, $44 million deal from the Pacers but he didn’t like that offer so he is still in limbo. Paul George who is the franchise player is untouchable and David West is also untouchable.
So obviously, we are seeing Larry Bird trying to make a culture change to this team. Will it happen? I’m not sure but if it does, we will be seeing a totally different Indiana Pacers team coming this fall.
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