The Indiana Pacers continued their re-focused offseason geared toward improving their playoffs odds. A day after trading for Jeff Teague the Pacers have now traded the 20th overall pick and a future second-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets for Thaddeus Young. The trade was first reported by The Vertical's Adrian Wojarnowski.
Brooklyn, who is set to begin its rebuild under a new general manager and coach known for developing young players, entered Thursday with no first-round selections. With limited assets to ship off, they used one of them to get themselves into the first round. Young was expendable for the rebuilding Nets and the fact that they could pick up a first-round pick for him in a deep draft and a future second-round selection is a step in the right direction for the franchise.
The trade also makes a lot of sense for Indiana, who add an athletic four who can slot in next to Myles Turner and give the Pacers an up-tempo lineup with Turner, Young, Paul George and Teague as the facilitator. Young is set to make $12 million next season and nearly $13 million in 2017, giving the Pacers two years of a good, young starter. Young holds a $13.7 million player option for the 2018 season, so it will be interesting to see down the line if he accepts it given the dramatically rising cap.