Pacers Trade Roy Hibbert to the Lakers
The Indiana Pacers have traded Roy Hibbert to the Los Angeles Lakers. According to reports, Indiana will receive a future 2nd round draft pick, the rights to an overseas player, and cash compensation.
Yahoo Sports NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski reports the final hurdle is the trade kicker written into Hibbert’s contract:
"The final hurdle in the deal centers on the 15 percent trade kicker that activates with Hibbert and his $15.5 million salary for the 2015-16 moving to the Lakers. Los Angeles has the salary-cap space to take on that salary and the $2.3 million trade kicker – essentially a bonus the Pacers must pay Hibbert – but Los Angeles wants to find a creative way to preserve more cap room in the deal, league sources told Yahoo Sports.After the Lakers absorb the $2.3 million trade kicker, it will leave them with less than $5 million available under the cap to spend elsewhere in free agency. There are several possible solutions to the snag, but both sides believe they will find a resolution and the deal will be formalized when the NBA’s moratorium on player business ends on Thursday, sources said."
Hibbert, a two-time All-Star, was once a highly valued piece of Indiana’s smash mouth style of basketball. Unfortunately, Hibbert’s value has dropped considerably over the last 18 months. The big man, who was once noted as the best vertical defender in the NBA, showed a staggering decrease in productivity both defensively and offensively.
Pacers President Larry Bird made it quite clear during the Pacers’ end of season press conference that he wanted Indiana to move to a fast paced approach on the court. David West’s choice to opt-out of the last year of his contract with Indiana was just the first step of this process.
Step two for the Pacers was moving Roy Hibbert and his contract. Hibbert was the only remaining piece of the half court puzzle in Indiana. The loss of Hibbert’s $15 million contract will also provide some cap space that the franchise needs to move forward adding pieces for an up-tempo style.
With Hibbert trade, Indiana #Pacers "smashmouth" basketball is officially dead. http://t.co/cDnAucEVTc via @indystar
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) July 5, 2015
Indiana will now look to find some free agents that will mesh well with Paul George, George Hill, and newly acquired guard, Monta Ellis. With many of the prominent free agents already off the market, it will be interesting to see where Larry Bird and company go from here.
With the loss of David West and Roy Hibbert, Indiana has undoubtedly increased their potential pace-of-play; hopefully this means that they’ve also increased next season’s win total by season’s end.