There was plenty of excitement at the NBA trade deadline as we saw Anthony Davis dealt from the Mavericks to the Wizards and the Cavaliers and Clippers swapped Darius Garland and James Harden, but a deal between the Clippers and Pacers fell through the cracks.
The Clippers, after already dealing with Harden, also parted ways with center Ivica Zubac. They shipped Zubac forward, Kobe Brown for wing Bennedict Mathurin, big man Isaiah Jackson, two first-round picks (2026 protected and 2029 unprotected), and one second-round pick.
Clippers-Pacers Deal Could Be the ‘Most Consequential Deal of the Deadline’
The Pacers were, of course, in the Finals last year, but lost star point guard Tyrese Haliburton to a torn Achilles tendon. In the offseason, big man Myles Turner inked a deal with the Milwaukee Bucks. The Pacers seemingly embraced their issues in hopes of landing one of the top picks in the 2026 Draft. At 15-43, they have the Eastern Conference’s worst record and the second-worst overall, behind only the 12-46 Sacramento Kings.
NBA Insider Jake Fischer explains that due to the protections and details of the trade, one of these two teams will almost certainly land a lottery pick – even though the Clippers do not have a pick of their own this season.
“For all of the inevitable focus on which teams will land the top three picks and the right to battle over Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa and Cameron Boozer, I know I’ll be thinking a lot about the Pacers and the Clippers,” Fischer wrote. “If one of those first four picks doesn’t go to Indiana, it will almost certainly land somewhere between No. 5 and No. 9, thus mandating that the pick be shipped to the Clippers as part of the teams’ recent Ivica Zubac trade.”
Due to that reasoning, Fischer believes this may be the most important deal of the deadline.
“I think that trade might have been the most consequential deal of the deadline,” Fischer explained. “It all but ended a Clippers era when combined with the James Harden-to-Cleveland trade before it and has plenty of rival executives – as we await the findings of the league’s investigation into allegations of salary cap circumvention by the Clippers in the Aspiration case – wondering if Kawhi Leonard’s time there could come to an end this summer via yet another trade.”
The deal for Zubac could mean the Pacers are right back in title contention, provided Haliburton is healthy, setting them to get right back into contention after just a one-year hiatus.
“Trading for Zubac likely cements the Pacers’ return to title contention in 2026-27 once Tyrese Haliburton is back from his crushing Achilles’ tear in Game 7 of last season’s NBA Finals. Numerous contacts with rival teams have suggested to me that the Pacers traded away too much for Zubac and could have waited until the summer to see what other options would have presented themselves, but I continue to hear that Utah is determined to retain restricted free agent-to-be Walker Kessler.”
Although the Clippers did get a solid return for Zubac, the Pacers now believe they have a leg up on next season, and after being forced into tanking this season due to the Haliburton injury, that may be the most they could have asked for, given the circumstances.
