More On Pacers’ Trade For Ivica Zubac

The Clippers were resistant for most of the season to the idea of trading Ivica Zubac, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link), who says that even after last week’s James Harden deal with Cleveland, there was a sense that L.A. wouldn’t change its stance on its starting center.

However, the Pacers were “more determined than anyone realized” to find a long-term answer at the five, Fischer writes, noting that the team also called the Cavaliers about Jarrett Allen and thought highly of Hawks big man Onyeka Okongwu, whose team-friendly deal (two years and $33MM after this season) was appealing to a team targeting centers with mid-sized contracts.

According to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints, the Pacers also looked at options like Mavericks center Daniel Gafford and Pelicans big man Yves Missi, but Zubac was always thought to be on top of their list.

For the Clippers to relent on Zubac, it was going require a team to meet their asking price of two first-round picks “and then some,” per Fischer, who suggests that some members of the Clippers wouldn’t have been upset if Indiana had decided the cost was too high, since it would’ve meant L.A. “had” to hang onto the 28-year-old, who was highly valued within the organization.

However, the Pacers put together a package of two valuable first-round picks, a future second-rounder, and two young players – Bennedict Mathurin and Isaiah Jackson – for Zubac, which convinced the Clippers to pull the trigger on a deal.

As Fischer writes, one of those first-rounders features unusual protection. It will convey to L.A. in 2026 only if it lands between No. 5 and No. 9 in this year’s draft. Besides the unique protections, that traded pick also includes unusual roll-over details — if Indiana keeps it this year, the Clippers would instead receive a 2031 first-rounder.

In a typical deal, the Pacers would owe the Clippers their 2027 first-rounder if the ’26 pick were to land in its protected range. However, according to Fischer, it was important to the Clips to secure a farther-off draft pick in that scenario. L.A.’s thinking was that Indiana – armed with Zubac and a potential top-four pick in 2026 – would have a bright short-term outlook, reducing the value of the team’s ’27 first-rounder, whereas there would be more variability by ’31.

Here are a few more notes related to the trade:

• While the Clippers had been prioritizing 2027 cap room in the hopes of going star-hunting that offseason, the team recognized that mere cap space might not be enough to land that sort of player, given how few stars reach free agency these days, Fischer writes. With that in mind, L.A. wanted to replenish its cache of draft picks to some extent. The Clippers that those picks they’ve acquired from the Pacers will help put them in a better position to pursue an impact player down the road, per Fischer.
• The Pacers had zero interest in surrendering their 2026 first-round pick in a deal for Gafford, while the Mavericks didn’t have a ton of interest in Mathurin, so trade talks between those teams didn’t generate any real traction, Siegel writes.
• The Mavericks had been hoping to add a 2026 first-rounder if they were going to move Gafford at the deadline, but the Hawks, another team with interest in the big man, also didn’t have interest in parting with its least favorable ’26 first-round pick (likely to be Cleveland’s), so the discussions between the two teams failed to gain momentum, according to Siegel.