The Indiana Pacers have been off to a fantastic start this season and the team is the last undefeated one left in the league at 8-0 and as they embark towards the December part of the schedule, star Danny Granger is working his way back and that should only add to the trade rumors that have been following him since last season.
Granger missed nearly all of last year due to knee issues and the Pacers were fine without him, making it all the way to the Eastern conference finals and taking the Miami Heat to the distance. The team did all this without Granger and while many wondered what the team could have done with him on the floor, his absence may have decreased his value to the Pacers and to coach Frank Vogel, which is why the trade rumors have continued to come up, including ones over the summer to the Cleveland Cavaliers that ended up going nowhere.
The team saw young star Lance Stephenson step up and develop into a starting player while coming in for Granger and when he finally returns, Stephenson may remain as the starter with granger coming off the bench. The Pacers have turned themselves into one of the most talented teams in the east after adding Luis Scola and they were also able to keep David West and they signed Paul George to a contract extension to ensure that he would be going nowhere. Granger was expected to start the season healthy, but that got delayed and now he has returned to practice and it is likely that he will not get back onto the court for the team for another week or so at the least.
The Cavaliers came up in talks over the summer to help get Kyrie Irving a better supporting cast and since Granger has a $14 million expiring contract, he will be a lucrative trade bait piece for a number of teams, the Cavs included. Granger has not been on the floor as the Pacers have been off to a franchise best start and the former All-Star could be very valuable to the Pacers as a player and as a trade piece, as they could get even stronger heading into the back stretch of the season with a deal.
Granger has been dealing with a calf issue after his knee problems and heading into the season the team announced that he would be out for multiple weeks. Stephenson seems to have a lock on the starting job with 14.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game this season and the team is playing stellar defense, ranking first in the league with less than 85 points allowed per game and now they head into matchups with the Bucks and the Bulls, who are trying to pull their way up in the division, but the Pacers have given themselves a nice cushion so far to start. The Cavaliers, Timberwolves and Thunder all could be options for Granger and it remains to be seen how much the Pacers want to deal him, but either way, his name will come up a bunch as the trade deadline gets closer.
