The Indiana Pacers are still dealing with the Paul George injury and while Shawn Marion is a solid free agent option, the team may look at a Goran Dragic trade this summer, as Indy wants to upgrade over George Hill and the Suns have a glut of backcourt players with the Isaiah Thomas deal in free agency along with Tyler Ennis, Archie Goodwin and their main restricted free agent if he decides to sign back with the team.
According to ESPN.com writer Marc Stein, the Pacers "dream" about a deal for Dragic and while that came before the George injury, it still could come into play since the team would love to upgrade over George Hill. The point guard position is one place the Pacers looked at this offseason to try and improve and while they signed Rodney Stuckey, now they need much more with George out and with the free agent market very thin, they may have to look at trade deals and other options.
The Suns may not end up trading Dragic, but he is a fine target for the Pacers to look at and he also is on a team friendly contract for now. The Suns are working on getting back Eric Bledsoe and no moves will go down until that happens anyway most likely. Dragic would be a nice upgrade over Hill and while he may not be Paul George, he could at least help the team deal with his loss this season.
The Suns are not shopping Dragic and Pro Basketball Talk reports that they aren't looking to give him up either, but that doesn't mean a deal can't go down sometime in the future. The Pacers now could be more motivated than before to get a deal done, as upgrading at point guard could be a massive help with Paul George out for the season. Hill is a solid player, but he is not an elite starting point guard and while Dragic isn't there yet either, he is coming off of a career year and a win for most improved player.
Thomas signed with the Suns in a sign and trade deal with the Kings and he comes in after having a very good season and while that doesn't mean the Suns will trade Dragic, they have a legitimate starting point guard there if they do. The team is likely also keeping Bledsoe and that gives them two very talented players along with Dragic and that could find the Suns in a very favorable situation. Last year the team traded Luis Scola and Marcin Gortat and got draft picks out of it and they could get another one for Dragic if they make a move.
Thomas comes over after averaging 20 points and six assists for the Kings last season to set career highs and he has All-Star talent for the Suns. The team also drafted Tyler Ennis this year and he could be a solid backup and with Bledsoe likely coming back, the team has flexibility in the backcourt. The team has offered Bledsoe a four year deal and he is looking for five and much more money than they have offered and now reports have him likely signing the qualifying offer as his deal for this season.
