The Indiana Pacers have the 18th pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Which players should they take to eventually become a threat in the Eastern Conference?
The Indiana Pacers were really supposed to be picking in the lottery of the 2019 NBA Draft. They had to play the final 46 games of the regular season after their best player Victor Oladipo went down with a season-ending injury. But head coach Nate McMillian was able to get the best out of the remaining players to finish out with a 48-34 record to earn the five seed in the eastern conference.
The loss of Oladipo showed in the four-game sweep of Boston but the emergence of young big men Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner throughout the 2018-19 season is a big takeaway for Indiana. The same goes for Bojan Bogdanovic, who led the team in scoring with 18 ppg.
He’s likely to earn nearly a max deal as a free agent this offseason so the Pacers have to contend with replacing his production from the wing spot. Guard Tyreke Evans had a great season coming off the bench but has been banned from the NBA for the next two years after violating the league’s anti-drug policy. Key role players Thaddeus Young, Wesley Matthews, Cory Joseph and Darren Collison are also slated to become free agents, creating lots of holes on the roster.
Indiana’s 18th pick in the draft will help solidify one area at least, with the hopes that they’ll emerge into at least a rotation piece. Who should they target in the draft and what area of need is most important to deal with?