Indiana Pacers President Kevin Pritchard doesn't want to use all five of the Pacers 2023 NBA Draft picks

The Pacers have more draft picks than open roster slots

The Indiana Pacers just finished their 2022-23 season, and at the conclusion of the campaign, 10 of the 17 players on Indiana's roster were 25 years old or younger. The Pacers began a rebuild roughly 14 months ago, so their roster is young.

Now, after a season of exceeding expectations and winning 35 games, the franchise has to figure out how to add to that young core. That will be difficult, though. Even with a ton of team-building resources, the Pacers' decision makers will have to figure out how aggressive they want to be after their 35-47 campaign.

That all starts with the NBA Draft. The Pacers will have a top-12 pick — and it will most likely be somewhere between 6-9, barring draft lottery luck — and they will have four other selections on top of that. The blue and gold will have many opportunities to add talent to the roster on June 22.

There is some trouble with that plan, though. Indiana already has a ton of young talent, as outlined above, and they want to win more games next season. Rookies typically don't help with such an endeavor. On top of that, the Pacers only have three standard roster spots opening up via free agency. Making five draft picks is nearly impossible for the team simply from a roster size perspective.

As a result, draft night (or the lead up to it) could be busy for the Pacers. And Kevin Pritchard, the team's President of Basketball Operations, knows that making nearly a half-dozen selections is unwise.

"We have three first round picks. We will have two second round picks... I don't want to bring in five young kids into this organization," Pritchard said Tuesday at his end-of-season press conference. "We have enough young kids."

Between Bennedict Mathurin, Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Jordan Nwora, Chris Duarte, Isaiah Jackson, and Jalen Smith, the blue and gold has plenty of emerging talent. Some of those players are near-locks to contribute for the team for years. Others are still finding their way with a chance to pop. Between the two groups, though, Indiana has a young core.

That's why Pritchard doesn't think the Pacers will make five selections on draft night. They are currently slated to have one lottery pick, two picks in the 20s, and two second-round picks. The exact location of the selections is not known and won't be until the draft lottery is done.

"Can you consolidate and go get other players?" Pritchard wondered about all of his draft picks. Two years ago, Indiana traded away several draft choices to move up and grab Isaiah Jackson. Last year, they traded into the second round to get Kendall Brown. Pritchard's front office has become more aggressive on draft night in the last two years.

That might be required again. With youth everywhere and limited roster spots, the Pacers can hardly make five draft picks in 2023 outside of multiple draft and stash choices, and that may not be the best strategy for a team that needs to use its assets to improve. Trades could be needed for Pritchard and company.

How many trades, and of what variety, is impossible to predict. The front office could decide to ship out players to open up roster spots, thus allowing them to make more picks. Or they could consolidate their draft selections and see what they could get in return. It's hard to say what would be best, and the Pacers have countless possibilities.

The specifics of what Indiana will do is impossible to predict at this time, but they'll have to be creative. The number of roster spots and draft picks the team has will make creativity a requirement.

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