While many have made pacers the buttt of their joke for being a perennial first/2nd round exit and nothing more one point people constantly forget is they've never really had long time to build with a particular core and are forced to constantly reshape their core at a unforeseen pace. think about the list of times they have traded a star/franchise centerpiece in the last 5yrs.

Now one might think every time they trade a centerpiece they go on a full blown rebuild but thats not the case. they actually try getting players who can become their future centerpieces. for further proof let me highlight every single time(3) they traded their star in the last 3yrs and even their key moves.

1) pg13 for oladipo sabonis(despite losing a near superstar one can say they have been competitive and gained a star back)

2) oladipo for levert 2 2nds(despite oladipo being injured they netted a solid youngster)

3) levert for 1st hou 2nd (it may look bad but with the sabonis trade in mind this looks like a real smooth piece of business as they get 2 firsts for levert)

4) sabonis lamb holiday for hali hield(once again instead of bottoming out when they trade their star they make a savy move to go nab a younger player with potential)

Safe to say what many claim is a bad fo simply because they're stuck in the middle of nowhere is in actuality a elite FO which is just struggling due to roster turnover