Pacers Win Big in Four Team Trade

The Indiana Pacers acquired point guard Darren Collison and Swingman James Posey from the New Orleans Hornets in a four team trade Wednesday that also involved the Houston Rockets and New Jersey Nets. Collison, along with Danny Granger and Roy Hibbert, should form the nucleus of Indiana team that will struggle for playoff contention this upcoming season.

The Pacers shipped C/PF Troy Murphy, who averaged 14.6ppg and 10.2rpg to the Nets, who in turn sent SG Courtney Lee who averaged 12.5ppg and 1.7apg for the Rockets. The Hornets obtained SG/SF Trevor Ariza who averaged 14.9ppg, 5.6rpg, and 2.8apg from the Rockets.

While the Pacers are clear winners in this trade, acquiring a a much needed point guard who averaged 12.4 points and 5.7 assists as a rookie last season, including 18.8 points and 9.1 assists in 37 starts filling in for Chris Paul, as well as a great role player in Posey, the trade was beneficial for all parties included.

The Rockets, who spent a combined $70 million this offseason to keep such "stars" as Luis Scola and Kyle Lowry, and spent another $15 million to acquire Yao's insurance policy, Brad Miller, were way over the salary cap, thus parting with Ariza, arguably the most talented player in the trade, was not a terrible move, although they will still have to pay a luxury tax. Courtney Lee will be a solid role player most, likely backing up Kevin Martin who the Rockets acquired from the Sacramento Kings during last year's trade deadline.

Although the Hornets gave up a very skilled point guard in Collison, they have Chris Paul the best point guard in the NBA. In Ariza they get a proven contributor in all facets of the game. Will this stop Chris Paul from wanting to be traded? Probably not. But they now have a pretty solid starting lineup with Peja Stojakovic, David West, Ariza and Paul. If Paul is not traded mid-season the Hornets could be a middle of the pack playoff team in the weakened Western Conference.

The Nets get big man Troy Murphy, who is essentially on a one year loan as his contract expires next season. When Murphy becomes a free agent next year the Nets will have around $20 million in cap space.

While this shakes up the makeup of the teams involved, none of these teams will actually be able to compete in their respective conferences. The Rockets and Hornets (if they keep Paul) could be able to nag mid-level playoff positions, but like everyone else in the Western Conference, they will not be able to compete with the Lakers. The Nets and Pacers will both struggle to make the playoffs and if they do will likely be swept by one of the Eastern powerhouses. While the Rockets should be quite a good team if they can stay healthy, and the Pacers certainly get better with the arrivals of Collison and Posey, it will be very interesting to see if Ariza can turn the Hornets into legit playoff contenders.