RealGM

Am I insane? Maybe.

Pacers trade: Tyrese Haliburton

Celtics trade: Jaylen Brown

Why for Pacers: Forget having a gap year - let's win the 2026 NBA title. Nembhard/Mathurin/Brown/Siakam/Turner with McConnell, Nesmith, Shep, Toppin, backup center bench? Why not? That could win a title.

Why for Celtics: Tank like it's never been done before. Presumably they'd trade Derrick White after this too, and run out a team of like Pritchard, Simons, uhhhhhhhhhhh some other guys. But then they'd come back in 2026 with a core of TATUM, HALIBURTON, and a HIGH 2026 PICK.

Add Pritchard for Sheppard also to balance the rosters, it's interesting...

jowglenn wrote:Am I insane? Maybe.

Pacers trade: Tyrese Haliburton

Celtics trade: Jaylen Brown

Why for Pacers: Forget having a gap year - let's win the 2026 NBA title. Nembhard/Mathurin/Brown/Siakam/Turner with McConnell, Nesmith, Shep, Toppin, backup center bench? Why not? That could win a title.

Why for Celtics: Tank like it's never been done before. Presumably they'd trade Derrick White after this too, and run out a team of like Pritchard, Simons, uhhhhhhhhhhh some other guys. But then they'd come back in 2026 with a core of TATUM, HALIBURTON, and a HIGH 2026 PICK.

I like it for both.

Without the Injury Hali is a higher value than Brown. With the Injury probably lower.
It’s a valid idea to consider for both teams, but in the end IDK. Indy with Brown is probably the class of the east, assuming they sign Turner, so maybe.
Indy gets hard capped at the first Apron here…so that’s an issue, maybe they send out another player to a third team as part of the deal so they take back less money. There is about an 8 million dollar difference in Brown and Hali. From Boston perspective I have a little heartburn about betting your future on two guys with Achilles tears.
Assuming they both recover fully you have a nice core for 26/27 though.
Because of the Injury I think Indy owes value. Maybe 2026 1st.

Surprisingly good trade proposal.

I’d keep an eye on Brown. If the Celtics are fixing their cap situation, moving Brown should be considered. He’s really good, but not max-contract good. I’d see what the Nets want to do w all those FRPs.

The idea that swapping out Brown for Hali makes the Pacers legit contenders next year seems very wrong to me. I don’t think Hali’s a great great player but he absolutely makes that team go and has for years. I wouldn’t put them in the top like 8 contenders next year with Brown in place.

Nice trade proposal. But you still have a future Mathurin problem. He will want to get paid and Indy can't and shouldn't entertain it with both Brown and Nesmith.

I think Indy would be better off long term trading Pascal and tanking one season.

But this feels more realistic for Indy.

For Boston, yeah Tatum/Hali, 2026 top 6 pick and White’s trade return is really good.

OP is big enough as is probably, but why not try to get Derrick White as well? Indy has some youth value to stack and some other contracts that should make a decent volume package for Boston..

No idea if they can afford White/Nembhard/Brown/Pascal/Turner but looks really really good..

I would take it for Boston. Pure tank year and then add that top pick to Hali/Tatum/White.

From an outsider's perspective I feel like Halburton is the engine for the Pacers. The injury is tough but swapping him for Brown is kind of like trying to catch magic in a bottle again. I think it could work but I'd probably ride with Hali.

Nembhard/TJ
Brown/Mathurin
Nesmith/Shep
Siakam/Toppin
Turner/Jackson

Deep team and the defense should be pretty damn strong but I don't think their ceiling is one game away from winning a championship. Probably better off waiting for a Haliburton recovery.

jowglenn wrote:Am I insane?

You are!

To me, not even a consideration with Hali’s injury.

IND is a team who plays better than the sum of their parts because of HOW they play. Brown in place of Hali moves to a play style that undoes that to a large degree.

Also, even if Brown/Hali would have been seen as comparable talents before the playoffs, maybe even Brown slightly ahead the absolute sensational playoff run filled with signature moments for Hali elevated his status to where IND could never do this.

Scoot McGroot wrote:

jowglenn wrote:Am I insane?

You are!

To me, not even a consideration with Hali’s injury.

Its a good idea on paper but Indy can't trade Hali now after what he did and how it ended. For Boston, I'd be all over this. They'll lkely tank their way into a top 10 pick and maybe more if the league is actually rigged.

Slim Charless wrote:

Scoot McGroot wrote:

jowglenn wrote:Am I insane?

You are!

To me, not even a consideration with Hali’s injury.

Its a good idea on paper but Indy can't trade Hali now after what he did and how it ended. For Boston, I'd be all over this. They'll lkely tank their way into a top 10 pick and maybe more if the league is actually rigged.

Yeah. For Indy, you already know that Haliburton can be a #1 leader to get you to a championship, and even win a championship. Swap him for Brown, and you’re not nearly there. Not with a lesser Tatum (Siakam), lesser Jrue (Nembhard), lesser White (Nesmith), etc.

Take the one year. Develop the rest of the roster. Be ready to hit the ground running when Hali returns.

Scoot McGroot wrote:

Slim Charless wrote:

Scoot McGroot wrote:
You are!

To me, not even a consideration with Hali’s injury.

Its a good idea on paper but Indy can't trade Hali now after what he did and how it ended. For Boston, I'd be all over this. They'll lkely tank their way into a top 10 pick and maybe more if the league is actually rigged.

Yeah. For Indy, you already know that Haliburton can be a #1 leader to get you to a championship, and even win a championship. Swap him for Brown, and you’re not nearly there. Not with a lesser Tatum (Siakam), lesser Jrue (Nembhard), lesser White (Nesmith), etc.

Take the one year. Develop the rest of the roster. Be ready to hit the ground running when Hali returns.

It would be surprising if Haliburton is back after just the one year, and it would be even more surprising if he was back in full form after just the one year. Cousins, Durant, and Klay (granted it was 5 months later) all played <40 games after returning from their torn achilles. From a Human perspective I don't think you can trade Haliburton right now, but basketball wise, if it was offered, it would be malpractice to not trade him for a guy that's only a tier below him when both are healthy.

I would still rather have Hali. If they were considering this they should just rebuild.

Celtics already have to deal with the variance of one player returning from a major injury, I’d rather not make it two..

Is Brown not hurt as well?

spearsy23 wrote:

Scoot McGroot wrote:

Slim Charless wrote:
Its a good idea on paper but Indy can't trade Hali now after what he did and how it ended. For Boston, I'd be all over this. They'll lkely tank their way into a top 10 pick and maybe more if the league is actually rigged.

Yeah. For Indy, you already know that Haliburton can be a #1 leader to get you to a championship, and even win a championship. Swap him for Brown, and you’re not nearly there. Not with a lesser Tatum (Siakam), lesser Jrue (Nembhard), lesser White (Nesmith), etc.

Take the one year. Develop the rest of the roster. Be ready to hit the ground running when Hali returns.

It would be surprising if Haliburton is back after just the one year, and it would be even more surprising if he was back in full form after just the one year. Cousins, Durant, and Klay (granted it was 5 months later) all played <40 games after returning from their torn achilles. From a Human perspective I don't think you can trade Haliburton right now, but basketball wise, if it was offered, it would be malpractice to not trade him for a guy that's only a tier below him when both are healthy.

If Haliburton sits all next year (as he should), he’ll have been out of action for just short of 500 days.

And, Cousins was the youngest of those guys at 27. Hali is 25.

But basketball wise, it’d be really tough to “downgrade” and get more expensive. Would have to sell a lot more key talent just to fit Brown and Siakam on the books, while finding another new long term pairing at PG.

Haliburtons injury is what makes this close to me. Without that injury Hali has significantly more value than brown to me. But, I am not a fan of brown, I think he is pretty overrated, he has just been lucky enough to play with Tatum.