{"id":176252,"date":"2026-02-05T09:33:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T14:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=176252"},"modified":"2026-02-05T09:33:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T14:33:21","slug":"double-double-leader-heading-to-the-pacers-in-deadline-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/02\/05\/double-double-leader-heading-to-the-pacers-in-deadline-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Double-Double Leader Heading To The Pacers In Deadline Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>INDIANA \u2014 The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/pacers\/\" target=\"_self\">Indiana Pacers<\/a> are leading the race to land Los Angeles Clippers center <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/z\/zubaciv01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ivica Zubac<\/a> in a deadline-day trade, sources told Jake Fischer of <em>The People&#8217;s Insider<\/em>. The Pacers continue to search for long-term solutions to their frontcourt concerns.<\/p>\n<h2>Ivica Zubac Heading To The Pacers In Deadline Trade<\/h2>\n<h3>Pacers Emerging as Primary Suitor<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_167999\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-167999\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27637454_168402037_lowres-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Nov 20, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; LA Clippers center Ivica Zubac (40) grabs the rebound during the second quarter against the Orlando Magic at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" class=\"size-large wp-image-167999\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27637454_168402037_lowres-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27637454_168402037_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27637454_168402037_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27637454_168402037_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27637454_168402037_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27637454_168402037_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/11\/USATSI_27637454_168402037_lowres.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-167999\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nov 20, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; LA Clippers center Ivica Zubac (40) grabs the rebound during the second quarter against the Orlando Magic at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Fischer reported early Thursday, \u201cSources: After trading James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier this week, the Los Angeles Clippers have continued receiving calls on starting center Ivica Zubac, with Indiana prime among his suitors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Pacers have been linked to several centers this season. They have also remained connected to Zubac for months. Michael Scotto of <em>HoopsHype<\/em> previously reported that both Indiana and Boston <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/i\/status\/2016623292145140013\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">showed<\/a> strong interest in him. Scotto also revealed that Los Angeles declined a proposal centered around <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/simonan01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anfernee Simons<\/a> and a first-round pick.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sources: After trading James Harden to Cleveland earlier this week, the Clippers have still been receiving calls on starting center Ivica Zubac, with the Indiana Pacers prime among his suitors. <\/p>\n<p>More NBA here:  <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xQGgEzSyLj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/xQGgEzSyLj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JakeLFischer\/status\/2019282908478075376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 5, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Clippers Signal Shift Toward Youth<\/h3>\n<p>Zubac missed Wednesday\u2019s game for personal reasons. He averages 14 points and 11 rebounds per game this season. Los Angeles\u2019 recent decision to move Harden for <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/garlada01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Darius Garland<\/a> suggests the Clippers are shifting toward a younger timeline. The deal signals growing openness to acquiring young players and draft capital. The Clippers plan to leverage the summer of 2027 to rebuild a contender. Indiana can offer appealing young pieces like <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mathube01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bennedict Mathurin<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/walkeja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jarace Walker<\/a>. The Pacers also control all of their future picks, giving them a strong trade package. The Clippers would want multiple first-rounders for Zubac per Brian Windhorst of <em>ESPN.<\/em> &#8220;If Ivica Zubac gets traded today, he&#8217;s going to get traded for more than Anthony Davis was traded for. Multiple 1st-round draft picks,&#8221; Windhorst <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/i\/status\/2019405578452251102\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><label>Credit:<\/label><span><\/span>\u00a9 Eric Hartline-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>INDIANA \u2014 The Indiana Pacers are leading the race to land Los Angeles Clippers center Ivica Zubac in a deadline-day trade, sources told Jake Fischer of The People&#8217;s Insider. The Pacers continue to search for long-term solutions to their frontcourt concerns. Ivica Zubac Heading To The Pacers In Deadline Trade Pacers Emerging as Primary Suitor [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":176261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,11,27,3,4721],"tags":[50244,652,662],"class_list":["post-176252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-pacers","category-clippers","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-2025-26-nba-season","tag-ivica-zubac","tag-nba-trade-deadline"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176252"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176262,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176252\/revisions\/176262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}