(12-11-2025, 08:20 PM)Smitty Wrote: [Siegel] The Indiana Pacers would be willing to move off of Bennedict Mathurin for a "big upgrade" like Ivica Zubac or Daniel Gafford.
I know this snippet of info surprises some, but it shouldn't. Gaff is a good center who has much-needed big man skills (defend the rim, block shots, rebound, good scoring skills around the basket). We seem to have forgotten what it's like when teams can dominate you inside and you lack the centers to stop them (stuck with DP, for example).
But teams value that a lot.
In addition, because of his looming free agency, and the possibility you might be forced to a choice of matching a way-overpaid offer, or lose him, Mathurin is not as valuable as you might think. He's going to get a fairly sizable jump in pay, and that big raise will put financial stress on the cap of the team that has him. Absorbing a jump of maybe 20M is not a yawned in a hard cap world.
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