The Deal of the Deadline

The Washington Wizards might have made the loudest headlines of NBA Trade Season with their separate deals to acquire Trae Young and Anthony Davis.

The Utah Jazz also swung big to pilfer Jaren Jackson Jr. from the Grizzlies amid Memphis’ ongoing efforts to move off of Ja Morant.

To me, though, Deal of the Deadline status in the NBA was conceived in Indiana, where the Pacers proved so determined to pry Ivica Zubac away from the LA Clippers that they ultimately succeeded in the final hour before the 3 PM ET trade buzzer sounded on Feb. 5.

The Pacers are grinding through a 14-40 slog this season without the injured Tyrese Haliburton, but they want to bounce back to their NBA Finals levels as quickly as possible. By pouncing on Zubac now, Indiana believes it will be back among the title contenders in 2026-27 with Haliburton back from an Achilles tear.

And here is the inside story on how they ultimately convinced the Clippers to part with their prized 28-year-old center … including detailed insights on the unique set of pick protections attached to the Indiana selection in June that now belongs to LA: