The Indiana Pacers entered the 2023-24 campaign as one of the more intriguing teams in the NBA. With the All-Star break currently upon us, the Pacers are sixth place in the Eastern Conference, which is certainly better than fans could have hoped for ahead of the season. Tyrese Haliburton has been the head of the snake, while his teammates have been providing ample support to their rising superstar.
The Pacers were relatively quiet in the days leading up to the trade deadline because they already acquired their star to pair with Haliburton in Pascal Siakam. It was inevitable that Indiana would pursue a star in the trade market because their city usually isn't a top landing spot for free agents, so the best time for them to fortify their roster is only through the trade market or the draft. With a combination of young assets and boatload of draft picks, the Pacers were rumored to be interested in several big names, before they landed on Siakam.
Even with the relatively quiet trade deadline dealings, there was still a slight mistake done by the Pacers front office, though. Let's take a look at what that mistake is and see why Indiana could ultimately end up regretting making this move later on this season.
Pacers trade deadline mistake: Losing Buddy Hield and adding Doug McDermott
Indiana plays with the second-fastest pace in the association, which is the primary reason why they manufacture a ton of open shots, especially in transition. With Haliburton leading the break on most occasions, it is vital to have knockdown shooters on both corners who can swish those threes on a consistent basis. Even if Buddy Hield requested a trade months ago, it did not seem like it on the court, because Haliburton would always find him open and dish it to him right on his shooting pocket.
Despite coming off the bench for the most part, Hield hit 38.4 percent of his three-point shots with Indiana this year. After Haliburton and Hield, the next best shooters on this team are Aaron Nesmith and Myles Turner. It just shows that even if they are a sensational offensive unit, there was room for them to improve by adding a couple of wing shooters to pair up with Haliburton and Bennedict Mathurin.
Several shooters were available in the market, such as Bojan Bogdanovic, Gary Trent Jr., or Alex Caruso, but they decided to pursue Doug McDermott as the main piece in their deal that sent Hield to the Philadelphia 76ers. McDermott is a wonderful catch-and-shoot player, but there have been a plethora of instances where he's gotten played off the floor because of his lackluster defense.
For a Pacers squad that is ranked 26th in defensive rating, it would not be smart to use McDermott for long stretches of action because he will likely be a liability on defense. Since the Pacers are building their roster with Haliburton and Mathurin in their backcourt, their primary bench guard should be someone who is a fantastic defender first and foremost, but also someone who can space the floor.
This wasn't an urgent need that Indiana needed to fill, but doing so at the trade deadline was a viable option since they had the Hield contract as the salary filler since he wanted to be traded. And beyond that, they still had either a pick or two to give up in addition to Hield, or even one of their project players deeper on the bench.
The McDermott addition was a minor lowlight in their overall performance this season, but if Siakam eclipses the expectations of the Pacers fanbase, the small bump in their wing depth will not be a major topic of conversation in just a few weeks time.
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