Pacers need to replace Myles Turner. Here are the 5 best trade options this season

After a dream 2024-25 campaign that saw the Indiana Pacers come to within one win away of winning their first NBA title in franchise history, one would have thought that this would be the start of a dominant run for the league’s fastest-rising team. However, Tyrese Haliburton’s Achilles tear has made life difficult for Indiana thus far this season, and the loss of Myles Turner in free agency is proving to be a big one for the team.

Turner hasn’t been at his best for his new team Milwaukee Bucks. But when he’s been playing for one team for the first 11 seasons of his career, a huge change such as the one he went through by signing with the Pacers’ archrival will always require a bit of an adjustment period.

Without Turner, the Pacers have been scrambling to fill their starting center position. They have gone through their gamut of centers, and although they’ve discovered as of late that Jay Huff is their best option, it’s clear that he is not a long-term solution for the team.

According to recent reports, the Pacers are looking for their long-term center who fits the team’s core, playstyle, and timeline. They have all their future first-round picks, so that should help grease the wheels in any potential deal.

With that said, here are the Pacers’ best options to fill the starting center void that Turner’s departure created.

Ivica Zubac

The 2025-26 season is getting away from the Los Angeles Clippers, and at this point, the hole they’ve dug themselves into may be too deep to climb out of. They are becoming a popular pick to blow it up as a result, but that remains so unlikely especially when they don’t own their 2026 first-round pick (they will fork it over to the Oklahoma City Thunder courtesy of the 2019 Paul George trade).

A player who could become available in the event of a doomsday scenario for the Clippers is Ivica Zubac. Time has flown so fast that Zubac is already in his seventh full season with the team and he’s only getting better. He’s become a premier interior threat; he’s no longer someone who’s fully reliant on others’ playmaking to get his buckets.

Zubac is currently averaging 16 and 12 with nearly a block per contest, and he’d make for such an incredible pick-and-roll dance partner with Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, and TJ McConnell.

The Pacers are a team that relies a lot on perimeter shot-creation, and Turner was the type of center who allowed them to play five-out on offense. Zubac offers a more consistent and easy way to manufacture buckets, as he’s routinely shot over 60 percent from the field. Imagine the space Zubac would have to work with on this Pacers roster. He’ll be feasting a lot, compared to the cramped spacing he sometimes has to go through with the Clippers.

A package centered around Bennedict Mathurin and Jarace Walker could work, and the Pacers could further sweeten the pot by adding two first-round picks. Zubac is under a team-friendly deal as well (he’ll be making a total of $58.7 million for the next three seasons), so he’s not going to come cheap at all.

Walker Kessler

Walker Kessler may be out for the season after tearing his labrum, but the Pacers are looking towards the future anyway, making him a prime trade target if the Utah Jazz were to ever decide to trade him away.

Kessler is only 24 years of age, and he’s one of the best shot-blockers in the league; he’s second in the league since 2022 in blocks per game (2.4) and he’s seventh overall in total blocks despite playing in just 201 games. He’s not the most agile defender in space, nor is he the most advanced offensive player, but he fortifies the Pacers’ interior defense while giving them another young piece that can grow alongside the rest of the team.

Kessler’s shoulder injury is not expected to cause lingering effects moving forward, so the Pacers may want to explore a trade for him while his value is down. Now, the Jazz may not want to sell him while he’s injured, but Indiana can always make things interesting by offering Mathurin as well as a first-round pick or two.

His three-point shot is a work in progress, but perhaps he gets a bigger green light under head coach Rick Carlisle. (He made six of his eight triples in five games this season.) This is a very enticing prospect for Indiana, although it’s a certainty that he won’t be coming cheap.

Daniel Gafford

The Dallas Mavericks are reportedly going to be exploring the trade market for some of their best players, including Anthony Davis, amid their struggle of a 2025-26 season thus far. But Davis is going to be far too expensive for the Pacers’ taste.

Davis is making $54.1 million, so the Pacers would have to package a few of their key players just to get him — defeating the point of acquiring him in the first place. Any trade package would have to involve Pascal Siakam going to the Mavericks if they don’t go that route, and that is not even a thought the Pacers are going to be entertaining.

Thus, it makes more sense for the Pacers to pursue Daniel Gafford instead. Indiana has indeed been linked to Gafford, and it’ll be much easier to trade for him as he’s making just $14.1 million this season. In fact, the Pacers can simply package Isaiah Jackson and Walker together and they already make the money match for Gafford. (Jackson will be trade-eligible on January 15, 2026.)

Gafford is a premier lob threat who will feast on all the dunks the Pacers’ guards will create for him. And his athleticism means he can play up and down to keep up with Indiana’s breakneck style of play.

The issue with Gafford is his injury-proneness. He’s also best utilized in a platoon with another solid center. But with Huff emerging as one of the best shot-blockers in the NBA, perhaps that one-two punch at center can work for Indy moving forward.

Jarrett Allen

It certainly feels as though the Cleveland Cavaliers have to do something to re-ignite their contending dreams. They are a middling team in the East amid injury problems to Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland, and a change may be in the offing if they fail to snap out of their rut.

Allen has been linked to potential trades for quite some time now, with many believing that the Cavs might be better off trading him away for a 3-and-D wing or two. But with Jaylon Tyson emerging as a quality starter, that isn’t even a requirement for them anymore in any Allen trade.

This could pave the way for the Pacers to acquire Allen. It’s hard to imagine the Cavs dealing him away to a division rival, let alone the team that eliminated them in the 2025 NBA playoffs. But the Pacers have all their draft picks to try and sweeten the pot, and they can always build an offer around Mathurin if it comes to that.

Kel’el Ware

The Miami Heat deemed Kel’el Ware untouchable in trade talks for Kevin Durant. So one would think that there’s no way he gets traded away, especially not for anything the Pacers would want to offer.

But the Ware-Bam Adebayo partnership is not bearing much fruit. They can always get better together with more reps alongside one another, but this could end up being similar to the Turner-Domantas Sabonis dynamic that the Pacers had to work around for a few years.

If the Heat come to the conclusion that this duo is unplayable, then perhaps Ware could become available for the Pacers to poach.

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