PARIS, FRANCE - JANUARY 25: Blake Wesley #14 of the San Antonio Spurs drives to the basket between RayJ Dennis #10 and Johnny Furphy #12 of the Indiana Pacers during the fourth quarter at The Accor Arena on January 25, 2025 in Paris, France. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
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INDIANAPOLIS – With the NBA Draft approaching tonight, the Indiana Pacers are on the outside looking in. On Tuesday, the first round will take place as 30 rookies join the NBA.
The Pacers aren’t currently involved. They don’t have a selection among the first 30. In fact, they don’t have one at all. Their top pick is owned by the Los Angeles Clippers and their second rounder is in the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies. Indiana and Portland are the only two franchises without a selection in this week’s proceedings.
Even without a pick in either round, the Pacers did their homework ahead of the draft. Dozens of prospects came into their practice facility to work out in front of front office members, scouts, coaches, and more. That on-court prep matters for Indiana’s decision makers, and the face-to-face meetings with prospects are sometimes more valuable at this stage of the process.
And just because the Pacers don’t own a 2026 draft pick right now doesn’t mean they won’t make one by the end of Wednesday night. They have plenty of future picks to trade and have frequently made moves early in the second round. Indiana has been active with picks in the 31-38 range during the 2020s.
There are good reasons to do so again, though as contenders acquiring young talent is not a necessity for the Pacers. If they do decide to trade for a 2026 NBA Draft selection, who might be a good trade partner for the blue and gold?
In 2024, the Pacers and San Antonio Spurs agreed to a trade involving second round picks. That deal put Johnny Furphy in Indianapolis. In 2025, Indiana and San Antonio linked up again – this time, the Spurs swapped the 38th pick for a future second-round selection.
These teams have a history of draft-related transactions. And they could be good fits for one another again. While the Spurs have several roster spots to fill this summer and have the wiggle room to bring in a few rookies, they are contenders. They need to add proven veterans in free agency. Yet as of this writing, they own four picks in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Those four are 20th, 35th, 42nd, and 44th overall. Could the Pacers grab one of those picks and send San Antonio a future asset that may be more helpful down the line?
The Grizzlies appear to be entering a rebuild and would thus value draft selections. But Memphis has 14 players under contract – a full roster – before making a single pick in the coming draft.
There are a few players the Grizzlies could easily part with. But their roster crunch makes them a trade candidate this week, especially as they hold picks No. 3, 16, and 32. That early-second round pick seems like a particularly good fit for the Pacers if these teams agree to a trade.
The Nets find themselves in a similar position to the Grizzlies. Entering the offseason, they could have as many as 13 players under contract after agreeing to acquire Julius Randle from the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday. They also possess multiple picks in the coming draft.
Brooklyn is slated to select sixth, 28th, and 43rd. Could 28 or 43 be in play for Indiana if the Nets need to keep their roster spots open in anticipation of other moves?
The Cavaliers and Pacers made a trade involving draft picks earlier this decade when Caris LeVert went to Cleveland and Ricky Rubio to Indiana. Multiple second-round picks and a first-round selection were exchanged in the deal.
This week, the Cavaliers could be a trade candidate with their only draft pick. Cleveland holds pick 29 overall, which comes with a starting salary just under $3 million (pending rookie scale usage). But right now, the Cavs are over the salary cap’s second apron.
That means adding more contracts would make it harder for the team to be flexible or add other talent in the offseason. Cleveland makes sense as a team that would move their late first-round pick for multiple future assets, or even move back into the second round. Indiana could be a good trade partner if that is the case.
CLEVELAND, OHIO - APRIL 13: Andrew Nembhard #2 of the Indiana Pacers guards Craig Porter Jr. #9 of the Cleveland Cavaliers during the first quarter at Rocket Arena on April 13, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
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The Thunder, like the Cavaliers, project to be an expensive team in 2026-27. So much so that they already agreed to a trade that will send forward Aaron Wiggins to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for second-round draft capital.
While the money is the headliner for the Thunder, they fit the same boxes as every team listed so far. Like the Spurs, they are contenders and perhaps more interested in upgrades than young talent. Like the Cavaliers, they have a pricey roster. And like the Grizzlies and Nets, they have several draft picks and a more filled roster.
Oklahoma City owns picks 12, 17, and 37 entering the draft. Pick 37, in particular, feels like one that could be moved.
Atlanta has been mentioned in multiple reports as a team looking for upgrades in the offseason. They were the only team able to beat the champion New York Knicks more than once in the most recent NBA playoffs, so improving their roster is a natural next step.
The Hawks own the eighth overall pick, which would be challenging for the Pacers to obtain. But the Hawks, who have 12 players under contract, also own picks 23 and 57. Is there a world in which Atlanta’s later selections become available in bigger deals? They don’t have the perfect asset for the Pacers to chase like some other teams but seem like a team to watch in general during the two-night draft.
The Clippers and Pacers already made a trade involving a 2026 draft pick. Could they do so again?
Los Angeles has 13 players under contract and owns picks five, 36, and 52. They could easily use all three selections and spend a two-way contract on their 52nd pick. But the Clippers have shaken up their team quite a bit in the last few months and are a team worth watching this week.
New York just won a title. Keeping their core together seems like a prudent move. And maybe the Knicks do exactly that – they’ve already reportedly agreed to terms with Mohamed Diawara and have agreed to change a contract detail for Jose Alvarado.
But like a few teams on this list, the Knicks are expensive. They are approaching the second apron, and crossing that team spending threshold has been a topic of discussion surrounding the franchise since their championship parade.
“There’s certain things in the NBA that you’d have to be suicidal to do. One of them is the second apron,” Knicks owner James Dolan said in a recent radio interview.
New York holds the 24th, 31st, and 55th overall picks. Could the Pacers move into the late first or early second round via a trade with New York?
Count the Nuggets, who possess picks 26 and 49, in the expensive teams group. They are approaching the second apron and have many roster spots to fill out to complete their team.
As Denver looks to contend around Nikola Jokic, would they be willing to move their pick late in the first-round to make their salary cap sheet make better sense? If so, the Pacers could be a good trade partner.
The Pacers have multiple attractive future second-round picks they could move in trades, and they have some recent draftees in Jarace Walker, Ben Sheppard, and Kam Jones that are still developing but could be moved. In their draft pick and salary cap reality, a trade seems possible, and the above teams would all be natural candidates for a variety of reasons.
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