The trades that put Pacers on the brink of an NBA Finals trip

The Indiana Pacers felt like they came out of nowhere last season, going from a 35-win team in 2022-23 to an Eastern Conference finalist. They're now two games away from the NBA Finals, thanks to a series of shrewd trades that started just over four years ago.

Trade 1: Jan. 16, 2021 | Pacers trade Victor Oladipo for Caris LeVert and two second-round picks

When James Harden was forcing a trade from the Houston Rockets to the Brooklyn Nets, Pacers team president Kevin Pritchard got involved in the four-team deal. To help facilitate the salary match, the Pacers acquired Caris LeVert from the Nets, along with second-round picks from the Rockets and the Cleveland Cavaliers, who added Jarrett Allen. In hindsight, that trade was great for every team except the Nets.

Trade 2: Feb. 7, 2022 | Pacers trade Caris LeVert for a first-round pick and two seconds

LeVert didn't play a lot for the Pacers after team doctors found a cancerous mass on his kidney. The Cavs, trying to make the playoffs for the first time in four years, gave up three picks to add offense with LeVert. The first two of those picks turned into two valuable rotation players: Guards Andrew Nembhard (No. 31, 2022) and Ben Sheppard (No. 26, 2023).

Trade 3: Feb. 8, 2022 | Pacers trade Domantas Sabonis and a second-round pick for Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield

Both the Sacramento Kings and the Pacers had excellent players who played the same position. The Kings chose De'Aaron Fox over Haliburton to be their point guard, while the Pacers went with Myles Turner over the All-Star Sabonis. Sacramento broke its playoff drought the next season with Sabonis, but the Pacers got the better of the deal by landing Haliburton.

Trade 4: July 9, 2022 | Pacers trade Malcolm Brogdon for a first-round pick and a package of players, including Aaron Nesmith

Nesmith couldn't get playing time in Boston, but he's blossomed in Indianapolis, shooting over 40 percent from distance as the quintessential three-and-D guy. He made eight of those threes in Game 1 against the Knicks, including six in the fourth quarter. Brogdon had signed an extension with Indiana a year earlier, but Haliburton made him expendable.

Trade 5: June 23, 2023 | Pacers trade Jalen Pickett and Julian Strawther for two 2024 first-round picks

Indiana used 2023 picks from the Harden trade and Brogdon trade to get two first-rounders the next season. Strawther was the 29th pick and Pickett went No. 32. It was a four-team trade spurred by the Denver Nuggets wanting to add to their bench and the Oklahoma City Thunder wanting Denver's 2029 first. It led directly to the Pacers' final big trade.

Trade 6: Jan. 17, 2024 | Pacers trade Bruce Brown and three firsts for Pascal Siakam

The Nuggets were instrumental in building the Pacers' juggernaut. The two first-rounders from the June 2023 trade went to the Toronto Raptors, along with Indiana's own 2026 first-rounder. The other component was Bruce Brown, who the Pacers poached from the capped-out Nuggets with a short, big-money contract. They turned two mediocre draft picks into two better picks, then turned those, one more pick and Brown's matching salary into an All-Star power forward.

The last few years of trades have been the NBA equivalent of trading a paper clip for a house. It might get the Pacers to their first NBA Finals in 25 years.