Proposed Pacers three-team trade called off minutes before deadline

The trade deadline was Thursday, at 3 p.m. EST. After conversations with numerous teams, the Indiana Pacers thought they had their deal in place. Until two minutes before the deadline, New Orleans backed out of the proposed deal.

“We felt we had the opportunity to get a player who would help us and not give up a ton, even though I like Josh and Brandon,” Bird said. “It’s unfortunate it had to be a three-team deal because when you get more teams in it, anything that happen.”

The proposed trade, though never expressly noted, worked out like this according to a source.

Indiana sends Josh McRoberts and their 2011 1st round pick to Memphis for O.J. Mayo. The twist was with the third team involved, New Orleans. The Pacers were sending Brandon Rush and Solomon Jones to the Hornets for their first round pick, David West and another player thrown in.

“It’s tough on me because we worked three days to get a deal done, and they pull it off the table with two minutes to go. That’s pretty hard to take.”

Another year goes by without any moves made before the trade deadline. That has some Pacers fans worried and frustrated because of the $30 million dollars in expiring contracts which are extremely valuable in the NBA. Indiana has the most money available for this upcoming summer, but there really aren’t any big name free-agents and the small market isn’t a top choice for players.

As for Bird’s plan moving forward, “We move on. We had plenty of opportunity to do other deals, but I didn’t think it’d improve our team. So what we do is, wait until the summer. Our plan has always been to take advantage of what we have.”

The Pacers will be without the services of Mike Dunleavy for 6-8 weeks after fracturing his left thumb in Tuesday’s win at Washington. He had surgery Friday and will unlikely be available until the final few games of the regular season.