INDIANAPOLIS -- According to multiple league sources, the Indiana Pacers and the Los Angeles Lakers have agreed on the framework for a trade involving All-Star center Roy Hibbert. This comes with little surprise, as Indiana has been 'aggressively' trying to trade Roy Hibbert all off-season. The trade will become official on July 9th.
Indiana pressured Roy Hibbert to become an unrestricted free agent by declining his player option before the off-season even started, but he decided to opt in to his $15.5 million player option. It was clear that Hibbert was no longer in the team's plan, and this became even more so the case when the team drafted center Myles Turner with the 11th overall pick.
According to various reports, the Indiana Pacers will receive un-signed draft pick Ater Majok. That is the basic framework for the trade; however, the Lakers are likely to include cash consideration and a future draft pick(s). It appears that Ater Majok will for sure be included in this trade, but the exact inclusion of draft picks and cash consideration is unknown at the current moment. Specific details will likely become available when the trade is closer to being official.
The exact details may not be known right now, but what is known is that the Lakers have to at least include a non-guaranteed contract, draft rights to a player, or second-round pick. It appears that the trade will involve at least one second-round pick, an overseas player, and cash consideration. This will allow for the Pacers to have plenty of cap space to restock their roster.
Indiana does not have a lot of options to address their needs in free agency, but that doesn't mean they can't make another trade to address those needs. One of those needs would be the starting power forward position, and the Pacers also have to sign new bench players, or re-sign key bench players from last season. Indiana certainly has more than enough assets to get this done, but they just have to find the right players on the open market.
Roy Hibbert was not going to be allowed to become a problem for the Pacers, as they wanted to cut ties as soon as possible. Indiana has already acquired Roy Hibbert's replacement, his name is Myles Turner. The same Myles Turner that scored 20 points, grabbed eight rebounds, blocked three shots, shot 8 of 11 from the field, shot 2 of 2 from the free-throw line, and 1 for 1 from three-point range in his Summer League debut on the same day of this trade agreement.
As mentioned earlier, Indiana just has to make sure they somehow address the starting power forward position. Their only true power forward on the roster is Lavoy Allen, which he appears to not be ready for that starting role just yet. The trade market may be a better option than the free-agent market, but somehow, someway, they will have to get it done if they want to compete for the Eastern Conference crown next season.
Indiana has key players from last season that are on the free agent market like Rodney Stuckey and Luis Scola. Indiana now has the cap space in order to re-sign them if the team wants to. It was made clear that Indiana wants to re-sign Rodney Stuckey, but there has been no indication regarding the team's interest in re-signing Luis Scola. But regardless, Indiana will have to sign players from free agency to address their remaining holes in their second and third units. Remember, this Roy Hibbert trade is just the beginning, and there are plenty of moves still to be made.
For reference, the Pacers have an estimated $2.8 million in 'room-exception', and they had around $6.5 million in cap space before this trade. After the trade and the $2.3 million 'trade kicker' in Roy Hibbert's contract, which the Lakers may end up paying, the Pacers are looking at an estimated $22 million in cap space. Remember, that salary cap estimation is not considering receiving cash from the Lakers since they haven't disclosed the amount of cash that they will be giving the Pacers, if they in fact are sending cash at all. Also, the Pacers' cap amount was factoring in the $2 million boost in the salary cap, as this is all estimation right now, and exact amounts will be released after the trade becomes official, or is close to being official.