The Pacers are among the teams expected to pursue Ivica Zubac this season, according to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints, who hears from sources that Indiana recently made a call to the Clippers to inquire about the veteran center.
After losing Myles Turner in free agency to the division-rival Bucks over the summer, the Pacers are deploying Isaiah Jackson, Jay Huff, and Tony Bradley in the middle this season while keeping an eye out for a potential long-term answer at the position, as ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Tuesday.
Another Tuesday report, from NBA insider Jake Fischer, suggested that Mavericks big man Daniel Gafford is among the potential targets the Pacers have considered.
Both Gafford and Zubac are under team control for multiple seasons beyond this one, at a rate of about $18-20MM annually. That contract structure likely appeals to the Pacers, who are already carrying two maximum-salary players – Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam – and were paying Turner just under $20MM in the last year of his contract in 2024/25.
Indiana controls all of its own first-round picks and has some potential trade candidates on its roster that could be used to match Zubac’s $18.1MM cap hit, including Obi Toppin ($14MM), Bennedict Mathurin ($9.2MM), and Jarace Walker ($6.7MM), so the club could put together a viable package.
Whether the Clippers will actually be willing to entertain the idea of trading Zubac, who made the All-Defensive second team and finished second in Most Improved Player voting, remains to be seen. Fischer wrote on Tuesday that L.A. doesn’t seem inclined to part with the 28-year-old big man, while Siegel himself acknowledged last week that there are “mixed signals” about whether or not the Clippers would be open to the possibility of a Zubac trade.
In his latest article, Siegel says rival executives believe the Clippers, who are off to a 6-18 start this season, would at least have a conversation about Zubac if multiple first-round picks were on the table for him.