Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers are receiving "many calls" regarding veteran swingman Caris LeVert as they reportedly ponder a teardown, according to NBA insider Jordan Schultz. 

Schultz added that LeVert's skill set is "highly coveted" among multiple team executives around the league. The 27-year-old is also reportedly "available at the right price."

Perhaps the Pacers ultimately secure a healthy return, but this seemingly wouldn't be an ideal time to trade LeVert.

The 6'6" wing is averaging 15.5 points, 3.2 assists and 2.9 rebounds. He's also on pace to set career lows for effective field-goal percentage (47.3) and true shooting percentage (49.9), per Basketball Reference.

But talented wings aren't easy to find, and the $36.3 million owed to LeVert over the next two seasons isn't a significant sum relative to his on-court contributions. He can serve as a No. 1 scoring option or facilitate the offense through his playmaking.

The Ohio native has already shown he can deliver in the postseason as well. He averaged 20.7 points, 5.9 assists and 5.2 rebounds in two postseason trips with the Brooklyn Nets. Over nine games, he shot 44.7 percent from the perimeter.

Because of his age and contract status, LeVert doesn't fit on a rebuilding timeline for the Pacers if that's the route they choose. He'd make a more meaningful impact on a team aiming to contend.

The Athletic's Joe Vardon reported Indiana "likes" Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton, which could make the Cavs a landing spot for LeVert. 

The Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks "have shown interest in recent years" in potentially acquiring Indiana Pacers star big man Domantas Sabonis, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium. 

Sabonis is "expected to generate strong interest and is among the attractive players who could be available in a trade" ahead of the NBA's Feb. 10 trade deadline, per Charania.

Last week, The Athletic's Charania and Bob Kravitz reported that the Pacers were "moving toward a substantial rebuild and are expected to open up trade conversations around some of their veteran stalwarts."

That meant players like Sabonis, fellow center Myles Turner and Caris LeVert, among others, could be put on the trade block. 

Sabonis will likely be considered the crown jewel of that group. The 25-year-old is averaging 18.2 points, 11.9 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game. He's shooting 58.4 percent from the field but only 31 percent from three. 

While Sabonis isn't the modern prototype at center, offering little in the way of floor spacing out to the three-point line or elite rim protection, he's a dominant scorer and rebounder. 

However, it would be somewhat surprising if the Knicks and Suns seriously pursue him.

The Knicks' floor spacing with Sabonis next to Julius Randle would be questionable. While Randle shot 41.1 percent from three last year, he's hitting only 32.6 percent this season, which is much closer to his career average.

Meanwhile, Phoenix already has young star DeAndre Ayton at center. Unless the Suns are willing to move on from Ayton—perhaps they won't be interested in matching a max offer if he receives one this summer as a restricted free agent?—it's hard to see the defending Western Conference champs, who currently sit at 21-4, messing with a good thing when it comes to their roster. 

But there are plenty of teams around the NBA who could benefit from an upgrade at center. It won't be surprising in the least if Sabonis gets moved.

The Indiana Pacers reportedly like Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton as a potential return in a trade for Caris LeVert, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic.

Indiana reportedly sees the 22-year-old as a "terrific scorer, though the Pacers have not yet brought him up in the discussions they've had with Cleveland's executives."

Sexton is out for the season with a torn meniscus in his left knee, but the Pacers could take a long-term approach after a 12-16 start to the year. The team is reportedly considering becoming a seller before the Feb. 10 trade deadline while taking calls on LeVert, Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner, per Shams Charania and Bob Kravitz of The Athletic.  

Cleveland (16-12) is seeking its first playoff appearance since 2018 and could use a proven shooting guard like LeVert to replace Sexton in the lineup.

LeVert is averaging 15.5 points per game in his first full season with the Pacers, and he is always capable of taking over offensively. He scored 26 points in Indiana's latest win over the Dallas Mavericks, and he has topped 20 points in five of his 20 games this year.

He could provide a boost to a Cavaliers offense that ranks just 18th in the NBA in efficiency.

The 6'6" LeVert could also be a better fit for Cleveland in the backcourt than Sexton (6'1") alongside the 6'1" Darius Garland.

On the other hand, Indiana already has a bigger two-way guard in Malcolm Brogdon (6'5") but could use another perimeter scoring option. Sexton could fill that role after averaging 20.0 points per game for his career, including 24.3 points per game in 2020-21.

If the 2018 No. 8 overall pick can return to full strength from his knee injury, this suggested deal could be a win-win for both teams.  

Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle is set to miss some time after testing positive for COVID-19.

The Pacers announced Carlisle will miss "multiple games" with assistant and former Atlanta Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce filling in as the interim head coach during his absence.

Carlisle's first game missed will be Friday against the Dallas Mavericks, which is the team Carlisle coached for 13 seasons before getting hired by Indiana during the offseason.

The fully vaccinated Carlisle tested positive for COVID-19 while coaching the Mavs in April and missed one game as a result, but it was later deemed to be a false positive.

Indiana has gotten off to a sluggish start this season, as its 11-16 record leaves it 13th in the Eastern Conference ahead of only the Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons.

As a result, Shams Charania and Bob Kravitz of The Athletic reported this week that the Pacers are "moving toward a rebuild" and open to fielding trade offers for guard Caris LeVert and one of Myles Turner or Domantas Sabonis.

The Pacers' play this season has been made all the more disappointing by the fact that Carlisle has enjoyed so much success during his career.

In 20 seasons as an NBA head coach with the Pistons, Pacers and Mavericks, the 62-year-old Carlisle is 847-705.

He has taken his teams to the playoffs on 14 occasions and led the Mavs to the only NBA championship in franchise history in 2011.

Carlisle's temporary replacement, Pierce, has a far less impressive track record as a head coach.

In parts of three seasons with the Hawks, Pierce went just 63-120. He was fired after a 14-20 start last season and replaced by Nate McMillan, who took the Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Pierce has extensive experience as an assistant, though, coaching with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies and Philadelphia 76ers before joining the Pacers this season.

Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle has entered the COVID-19 protocols, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.

The coach could reportedly miss "multiple games," per Charania.

Indiana's next game is scheduled for Saturday against the Dallas Mavericks before a stretch of three games in four days from Dec. 13-16.

Assistant Lloyd Pierce will coach in the interim if Carlisle misses any games, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Pierce spent the past three seasons as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks.

Carlisle, 62, is in the first season of his second stint as head coach of the Pacers. The team is off to a slow start with an 11-16 record. Despite two successive wins, Indiana could be soon headed to a fire sale.

Charania and Bob Kravitz of The Athletic reported the Pacers are receptive to calls on Caris LeVert, Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner.

A stretch without the head coach could lead to more struggles and a quicker move to rebuild.

Carlisle is in his 20th NBA season as a head coach, leading the Dallas Mavericks for the past 13 years before parting ways at the end of last season. Through his time with three organizations, the coach has led his teams to the playoffs in 14 of 19 seasons.

In 2011, he helped the Mavericks win their only championship in franchise history.

Indiana hasn't been quite as successful in recent years, missing the playoffs in 2021 while suffering first-round losses in five straight seasons before that.   

Amid a disappointing 11-16 start to the season and speculation that a rebuild could be coming, Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner is unhappy with the organization. 

Speaking to Jared Weiss of The Athletic, Turner believes the Pacers don't see him as a valued part of their lineup:

It’s clear that I’m not valued as anything more than a glorified role player here, and I want something more, more opportunity. I’m trying really hard to make the role that I’m given here work and find a way to maximize it. I’ve been trying to the past two, three seasons. But it’s clear to me that, just numbers-wise, I’m not valued as more than a rotational role player, and I hold myself in a higher regard than that.

On Tuesday, Shams Charania and Bob Kravitz of The Athletic reported the Pacers "are receptive" to engaging trade discussions for either Turner or Domantas Sabonis and Caris LeVert.

Turner has been mentioned in trade rumors for years, but the Pacers have been unwilling to part with their 25-year-old center to this point. 

Indiana has struggled to find ways to maximize its roster with Turner and Sabonis, a fellow big, in their six seasons as teammates. 

Head coach Rick Carlisle told J.L. Kirven of the Indianapolis Star in July he planned to stagger the minutes for Turner and Sabonis. 

"I’ve talked to both guys about it," said Carlisle, in the first year of his second stint as the team's coach. "They both like playing together and they were both open to doing these different kind of things and talking about them and putting them into play."

Even though Sabonis is generally regarded as the better offensive player, Turner has actually shown good growth in his skill set in recent years. The 6'11" Texas product is shooting 36.1 percent from three-point range since the start of 2017-18. 

Turner is also a much better defender than Sabonis. He has averaged at least 2.1 blocks per game in each of the previous four seasons. The Texas native has led the league in blocks per game twice in the past three seasons and is currently leading the league in that category this season (2.8 per game). 

The Pacers brought in Carlisle to get the franchise back on track after finishing 34-38 and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2014-15 last season under Nate Bjorkgren. 

Things haven't started out well in Indiana this season. The team's 11-16 record is only ahead of the Orlando Magic (5-21) and Detroit Pistons (4-20) in the Eastern Conference. 

Turner is owed $17.5 million this season and in 2022-23 before he can become a free agent. He's averaging 12.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game with a 39.7 three-point percentage in 26 starts in 2021-22.    

Indiana Pacers president Kevin Pritchard said the front office is "fielding plenty of calls" from teams interested in a trade for center Myles Turner or forward Domantas Sabonis.

Pritchard told Jared Weiss of The Athletic on Thursday the franchise is going to practice transparency with its players as it considers potential blockbuster deals.

"If they ever want to ask me anything, they can ask me anything," Pritchard said. "When we get close to making a trade, we don't try to just bop a guy over the head with, 'Oh, by the way, you're traded.' We will give them a heads up, and we've done that multiple times."

Both Turner and Sabonis could generate sizable return packages for the Pacers before the Feb. 10 NBA trade deadline if the team decides to move forward with a full-scale rebuild. Things are trending in that direction following a lackluster 11-16 start to the 2021-22 season.

Turner is one of the league's premier shot-blockers—he leads the NBA with 2.8 blocks per game so far this season—but he's envisioned himself becoming a more integral part of the Pacers' offensive game plan, and that hasn't happened. He ranks fifth on the team in scoring (12.9 PPG).

The 25-year-old University of Texas product told Weiss he'd welcome an opportunity to take on a more well-rounded role elsewhere.

"It's clear that I'm not valued as anything more than a glorified role player here, and I want something more, more opportunity," Turner said. "I'm trying really hard to make the role that I'm given here work and find a way to maximize it. I've been trying to the past two, three seasons. But it's clear to me that, just numbers-wise, I'm not valued as more than a rotational role player, and I hold myself in a higher regard than that."

Pritchard hinted the fact Turner is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent during the 2023 offseason is also a factor as the team plans its future.

"I admire that he wants to get better, and I think he's the kind of player that will work every single summer to get better too," he told The Athletic. "He's a modern-day big, and those guys are going to be valuable. I'm sure at the end of his contract, he'll have a lot of suitors."

Meanwhile, Sabonis is a well-rounded contributor, averaging 18 points, 12 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.1 steals while shooting 58 percent from the field across 27 appearances in 2021-22. He ranks 11th among all NBA players in FiveThirtyEight's WAR metric.

He's under contract through 2023-24, so he should attract interest from both contenders and teams looking to build for the future, which should maximize the return if Indiana ultimately decides to start moving in a new direction.

While the Pacers seemingly have the foundation to turn things around, Pritchard shrugged off the idea of trying to add before the deadline to improve their playoff chances rather than subtracting, possibly in a significant way.

"Making trades at the trade deadline can help. But, really, there's no proof that you can really substantially improve," he told Weiss. "You can change it for a later timeline. But to improve today, it's awfully hard. Because a lot of times, you have to find good trading partners, a team that's going in a completely different direction. The thing about the NBA right now is there's only like four or five teams that are really trying to look to the immediate future."

Those comments make it sound like Indiana would rather focus on becoming a true title contender a handful of years down the road than trying to patch a roster together to sneak into the playoffs and hope for a magical postseason run.

That's not necessarily a bad approach—being caught in the middle between legitimate championship contention and securing top-five draft picks is often the worst place in sports—but that type of honesty isn't always easy for fans to hear.

So, barring a serious surge over the next month, it appears the Pacers will be among the NBA's marquee sellers leading up to the deadline, with Turner and Sabonis being impact players who could definitely help shake up the title chase.

The Indiana Pacers are keeping their options open after a disappointing 11-16 start to the 2021-22 season.

A source told Peter Botte of the New York Post the Pacers are still "trying to win ... but it doesn't mean trades can't happen."

This comes amid reports the team is now "receptive in trade dialogue" on Caris LeVert, Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner, according to Shams Charania and Bob Kravitz of The Athletic.

Though Indiana might not deal all three, the trio has generated "significant interest from rival teams."

Sabonis has earned All-Star selections the past two years and remains a threat in the post while averaging 18.0 points, 12.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game this season. Turner is a Defensive Player of the Year candidate while leading the league with 2.8 blocks per game, which would be the third time in four years he's led the NBA in that category. Even if the Sabonis-Turner fit can be clunky at times, the two still produce.

LeVert has struggled with consistency and availability during his first full season in Indiana but is still averaging 14.9 points per game and is always capable of taking over.

With Malcolm Brogdon, who signed an extension before the season, the Pacers have enough talent to compete in the Eastern Conference.

The team hired veteran coach Rick Carlisle this offseason, and the 62-year-old likely wasn't planning to hang around for a rebuild.

However, the roster as constructed hasn't done enough to prove it can be a contender. Indiana missed the playoffs last year and hasn't gotten out of the first round since 2014, and the lack of depth on the current team could prevent any more success in 2021-22.

It means the front office could be forced to make changes before the end of the season.   

The New York Knicks are reportedly a team to watch if the Indiana Pacers trade center Myles Turner.

According to Peter Botte of the New York Post, the Knicks have expressed interest in Turner amid rumors that the Pacers are looking to enter into a rebuild.

Shams Charania and Bob Kravitz of The Athletic reported Tuesday that the Pacers are "moving toward a rebuild" and "receptive" to trade offers involving guard Caris LeVert and one of their top big men in Turner or Domantas Sabonis.

Indiana selected Turner with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2015 draft, and the Texas product has developed into a defensive force since then.

In 2018-19, Turner led the NBA in blocks for the first time with 2.7 per game and he also posted the second-best scoring and rebounding figures of his career with 13.3 points and 7.2 boards per game.

After a down year in 2019-20, Turner bounced back in a big way last season, leading the NBA in blocks again and setting a career high with 3.4. He also averaged 12.6 points and 6.5 rebounds.

Turner has been even better from an all-around perspective this season, and he is still the NBA's leading shot blocker with 2.8 per game.

The 25-year-old is also putting up 12.9 points per contest and is matching his career high with 7.3 rebounds per game. Additionally, the 6'11" Turner continues to expand his range with a career-best 1.8 three-pointers made per game, and his field-goal percentage of .531 is his best since shooting .511 in his second season.

Given his defensive prowess, age and the fact that he is under contract through next season (with only an $18 million salary-cap hit), Turner would likely net the Pacers a significant package in return via trade.

If the Knicks trade for Turner, it could be a sign they are ready to move on from starting center Mitchell Robinson, who has not reached his potential as quickly as hoped.

Injuries have hampered the 7-footer throughout his career and limited him to 31 games last season, but even when healthy, he has shown there are some holes in his game.

The No. 36 overall pick in the 2018 draft is averaging 6.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per contest in 25.0 minutes over 22 games this season.

After shocking the basketball world and reaching the playoffs last season as the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Knicks are off to a slow start this season at 12-13, which leaves them in 11th place.

On Wednesday, they fell 122-102 to the Pacers and got a firsthand look at Turner, who recorded 22 points, four rebounds, three three-pointers made and two blocks.