Thaddeus Young Will Help Make Indiana Pacers One Of East's Best Teams

A day after making a trade to acquire Jeff Teague, the Indiana Pacers were at it again on Thursday. This time, the team elected to give up their first-round draft pick to add an established veteran. They dealt the No. 20 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for starting power forward Thaddeus Young. The trade will really benefit the Pacers and officially makes them the second-best team in the East.

The Pacers really needed to add a couple of players who could take some of the offensive pressure off of Paul George. Adding Teague and Young will definitely help to do that. In particular, Young should excel in the Indiana offense that saw David West perform successfully for so many years. Young should be a similar type of player as a good interior scorer and rebounder. He averaged about 15 points and nine rebounds per game last season and will be an excellent complementary piece for the Pacers’ roster.

The presence of Young will also make free agency less pressure packed than it would have been. Their starting center, Ian Mahinmi, is going to be a free agent this offseason, and the strong defender may end up commanding a large salary. If the team cannot afford him, they now have insurance as their frontcourt will still have two capable starters, Young and second-year player Myles Turner. They still should re-sign Mahinmi, but it just makes it less of a glaring need to do so.

For the Nets, this trade is all about adding some young talent to go with their rebuilding effort. The team has very few assets over the next few seasons, so adding one now could be a great move for them. They are best served to take a higher risk player with star potential, like Kentucky‘s Tyler Ulis, to help give them a future franchise player.

Overall, this trade is a win for both sides, but the Pacers are definitely getting the better end of the deal. They have added a player who will make them the second-best team in the East behind the Cleveland Cavaliers, and they are doing so at a relatively cheap price.