Kevin Pritchard: Pacers Not Keeping All Five Draft Picks

The Pacers have five picks in Thursday’s NBA Draft, including one in the lottery and two in the late-first round.

Everyone pretty much already knew Indiana has no desire to bring five rookies to training camp in the fall — and now they know it because head of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard has come out and said it.

“We’re not gonna keep all five picks, but there’s just a lot of things we can do,” Pritchard said, via Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. “And my guess is we’ll get a lot of offers for those picks too.”

So we can expect the Pacers to make a trade or two on draft night. Or at the very least, try with all their might. The one pick they seem determined to keep, however, is the one they own at No. 7. By all accounts, they feel some immediate help will be available there.

Then again, they might part with it if the return was some veteran help on the wing, as we relayed here. For instance, they have been linked to Hawks small forward De’Andre Hunter, who is supposedly available.

Either way, Nos. 26 and 29 are said to be very much up for grabs, as are their two second-rounders (Nos. 32 and 55).

The Cavaliers are one team that is looking to move into the first round, and may have spoken to the Pacers about doing just that, as we relayed here.

“They’re looking at guards. They’re looking at wings. They’re looking at forwards,” ESPN draft expert Jonathan Givony said of Indiana on a recent call with reporters. “I think that they’re at the stage of their rebuilding right now where they can go in a lot of different directions. I don’t think they’re going to be hamstrung by position. Knowing (Pritchard) for a while now, he’s always been a guy who is focused on talent.

“He wants to make sure that five years from now he’s coming away with the best player he can in this draft. Rosters change. Guys come. Guys go, but, like, you want to make sure that you’re getting the best player possible.”