Pacers head of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said he had no intention of keeping all five picks in Thursday’s NBA Draft, and he’s unofficially backed it up.
Per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Pacers are trading picks Nos. 29 and 32 to the world champion Nuggets for the No. 40 pick in this year’s draft and Denver’s least-favorable first-rounder in 2024.
“We’re not gonna keep all five picks, but there’s just a lot of things we can do,” Pritchard said Tuesday, via Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. “And my guess is we’ll get a lot of offers for those picks too.”
Indiana still has four picks in this year’s draft — Nos. 7, 26, 40 and 55. They are said to still be open to dealing any of them.
That includes their lottery pick, if the return was some veteran help on the wing, as we relayed here. For instance, they have been linked to Hawks small forward De’Andre Hunter, who is supposedly available.
For the record, the Cavaliers are one team that is looking to move into the first round, and may have spoken to the Pacers about doing just that, as we relayed here.
“They’re looking at guards. They’re looking at wings. They’re looking at forwards,” ESPN draft expert Jonathan Givony said of Indiana on a recent call with reporters. “I think that they’re at the stage of their rebuilding right now where they can go in a lot of different directions. I don’t think they’re going to be hamstrung by position. Knowing (Pritchard) for a while now, he’s always been a guy who is focused on talent.
“He wants to make sure that five years from now he’s coming away with the best player he can in this draft. Rosters change. Guys come. Guys go, but, like, you want to make sure that you’re getting the best player possible.”
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