Indiana Pacers’ Ivica Zubac looks on before an NBA basketball game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Sunday, March 15, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)
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INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Pacers would have loved to keep their top-four protected first-round draft pick this offseason. They’ve made that clear, even in the aftermath of their unlucky draft lottery night.
But they also love the player they sent that pick out to get. Ivica Zubac, an All-Defense team member in 2025, was dealt from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Pacers back in February. Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan called Zubac the team’s number one target just after the trade.
“We like (Zubac), we like his fit, like his age, like his production, like his character, his locker room culture, all of the above,” Buchanan said. “He was a very obvious candidate for us to pursue.”
Those are all positive traits for a basketball team looking to win in the near term. Zubac’s defense and rebounding could be crucial skill additions for the Pacers. The big man played in just five games for the blue and gold this season thanks to different injuries, and he averaged 11.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in those outings.
Indiana has yet to see Zubac play with either of his new All-Star teammates in Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton. He got a few reps with other starters in Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith, but it was difficult to draw many conclusions from his abbreviated season in Indianapolis. Next year, the Pacers will hope to get the big man up to speed quickly.
Zubac’s level of play was the main factor in the Pacers pursuing him via trade. Multiple team executives have made that clear in the months since the deal. Buchanan, on a recent radio appearance on The Ride With JMV (107.5 The Fan), once again reiterated that feeling.
He also added more insight into another part of the trade: The salary cap dynamics. Zubac, despite being considered by many to be a top-10 center in the NBA and one of the best defenders at the position, has a cap hit under $22 million in each of the next two seasons. For reference, the 10 highest paid centers this past season all made over $32 million. Zubac was the 20th in salary among players at the position.
Why is Ivica Zubac’s contract so good for the Pacers?
Teams love to get more production than they are paying for, particularly in the NBA’s new salary cap reality. The addition of the first and second apron restrictions in the most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement have made every dollar count more than ever. It’s becoming a contracts league, and Zubac is a great value contract.
If Zubac had a higher salary, two things would be true. One is that he would have less trade and salary cap value – that’s just by default. It also would have taken more outgoing salary for the Pacers to grab him in a deal. They were able to acquire Zubac while sending away Bennedict Mathurin, an expiring contract, as well as depth center Isaiah Jackson as the matching salary sent to the Clippers.
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 06: Ivica Zubac #40 of the LA Clippers handles the ball ahead of Myles Turner #33 of the Indiana Pacers in the first half at Intuit Dome on February 06, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
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Had the Pacers waited until the offseason to trade for Zubac, that exact deal would not have been possible. Mathurin couldn’t have been traded once the regular season ended since his contract expires after June ends. Jackson’s salary actually falls next season. Other Pacers players would have needed to be involved in the trade if the team wanted to acquire Zubac now as opposed to three months ago.
Buchanan touched on that topic during his radio interview. “This was all of us on board with this (trade). Like I said, we’re still excited about this group. Nothing’s changed,” he said of the transaction. “Some of the other options moving forward, if (we’d) have waited until this summer, (were) going to require (us), because of where we’re at cap wise, to sacrifice some of (our) core players. And we just didn’t want to do that.
“With Tyrese coming back and Pascal still in his prime, we didn’t want to keep the status quo going into next year,” he added. “We’re big fans of Zu. Still are. That’s why we made the trade.”
While Buchanan did not specifically name anyone as a part of that core, team President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard provided a hint at the NBA Draft Lottery earlier this month. “We felt a little pressure during the trade deadline to make that trade because of contracts and the way we wanted to make sure we kept our top seven,” he said. The team’s top seven now would be their starting five (Haliburton, Nembhard, Nesmith, Siakam, and Zubac) as well as key reserves Obi Toppin and T.J. McConnell. If the Pacers had waited until the offseason to trade for a center, one of those players would almost certainly have been in the deal to make the salaries match. If not, more draft capital would have been necessary to get a high-quality starter.
Building that core while keeping the roster’s salary structure in a healthy place required a bold trade. The Pacers made one. Buchanan shared for a second time that Zubac’s production and age were the biggest factors in bringing him in, but also admitted that his contract was a checked box.
Now, the Pacers have top-end talent they are happy with and a manageable cap sheet. And they have some resources, plus some tradeable assets, to improve their depth in the offseason.
“You look at these teams that are still playing [in the playoffs], they all have very, very good starting fives. You’ve gotta have five good starters to go deep into the playoffs,” Buchanan said. “We can’t go out there with maybe a hole at one of those positions and expect to compete for a championship.”
That’s why the Pacers acquired Zubac. They believe he can help them win now. His excellent contract could help the team add other pieces, too.
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