The Brooklyn Nets traded forward Thaddeus Young to the Indiana Pacers on Thursday afternoon, The Vertical reports:
Sources: Pacers trade for Thaddeus Young. @WojVerticalNBA on @TheVertical. https://t.co/Lf5qvBtum7
— Ball Don’t Lie (@Balldontlie) June 23, 2016
Thaddeus Young Traded to Indiana Pacers
In exchange for Young, the Pacers will send the 20th overall pick in tonight’s NBA Draft, along with a future second round pick, to the Nets. The former will be Brooklyn’s only first round pick this year, barring another trade, as the Nets gave up the number three overall pick to the Boston Celtics, which they owed from the Kevin Garnett–Paul Pierce 2013 trade.
Young averaged 15.1 points, nine rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.5 steals per game last season in 73 games for the Nets. He played 101 games total in just a season and a half for the Nets, after being traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 2014-15 season.
Young played the first seven seasons of his NBA career for the Philadelphia 76ers before being traded to Minnesota in the 2014 off-season. Indiana will now be Young’s fourth NBA team, going into the tenth year of his career.
For the Pacers, Young will provide a better option than they previously had as a starting power forward. The Pacers struggled with their rotations in their first round loss to the Toronto Raptors in the 2016 NBA Playoffs, starting Lavoy Allen at power forward before ultimately deciding to move rookie Myles Turner from a reserve center role to that position. With starting center Ian Mahinmi exploring the market as a free agent, the Pacers may elect to slide Turner back up to center and start Young at power forward. Some experts think that Indiana has already moved on from Mahinmi, meaning that a Young-Turner starting frontcourt is the most likely outcome:
Hunch is Indy has moved on from Mahinmi, will immediately transition to Turner as starting C. Defense will be interesting w/ Teague/Monta.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) June 23, 2016
On Brooklyn’s side of things, the Nets are trying to recover from the disastrous trades that former GM Billy King made. They are looking to acquire as many first round picks and young players as possible, while trading away veterans such as Young. The Nets will look for some youth with the 20th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft tonight, to go with 21-year-old Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
This trade, for Indiana, comes just a day after the Pacers acquired Jeff Teague from the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team trade that sent George Hill to the Utah Jazz.
