The Deal
Pacers get: Forward Jeremy Evans and cash considerations
Mavericks get: TBD
Indiana Pacers: B+
Dallas signed Evans to a two-year contract for the veteran's minimum this time last summer, when the team was filling out its roster after using cap space. A 6-foot-9 jumping jack, Evans looked like a good fit for the Mavericks' pick-and-roll game, but he never really found a spot in the rotation before shoulder surgery ended his season.
With Dallas spending heavily on the frontcourt this summer, there was little room for Evans, so the Mavericks put him on the trade market for cap purposes. Indiana gets him at little cost, given that the cash in the deal will probably cover at least the difference between Evans' salary and signing a player to a one-year contract for a veteran's minimum. (The league reimburses teams for a portion of experienced minimum-salary players on one-year deals.)
Technically, the Pacers will have to send something to Dallas in return, presumably a second-round pick that only conveys if Indiana has one of the league's five best records.
There's a place for Evans in the league. He shot 69 percent on 2-point attempts when he did get on the court with the Mavericks, and even made four 3-pointers (albeit at a 25 percent clip). Evans' ability to run the court will be a good fit for the Pacers' emphasis on up-tempo basketball.
In the half court, he'll be less valuable because unless his 3-point shooting comes around, Evans is best around the basket -- territory presumably occupied by Al Jefferson on Indiana's second unit. And Evans struggles to defend much stronger traditional big men.
So he might end up as the Pacers' fifth big man, but that's just fine for someone making the minimum.
Dallas Mavericks: C
I thought Tuesday that the Mavericks could make all the moves they have planned (signing Harrison Barnes, re-signing Dwight Powell and Deron Williams, trading for Andrew Bogut) while retaining Dirk Nowitzki's $12.5 million cap hold, necessary to pay him the two-year, $40 million deal reported Tuesday. But the numbers were tight and some of the publicly reported information might have been wrong. Apparently Dallas needed to shed Evans' salary to make things fit.
Again, the exact numbers are tough to suss out, but trading Evans instead of simply waiving him and stretching his contract may also create enough space to sign second-round pick A.J. Hammons to a deal for more than the league minimum.
Either way, this deal is unlikely to have much of an impact on Dallas' fortunes going forward.