NBA Mock Trade Fantasy Impact: Trey Murphy III Dealt To The Indiana Pacers
The New Orleans Pelicans, despite winning 26 and 21 games over the past two seasons, do not seem to want to enter a full rebuild. Though a few of their players have come up in trade talks, including forward Trey Murphy III. It has been reported by NBA Insider Jake Fischer that teams want him, but they are not interested in trade packages that are mainly structured around draft picks. This limits the possible suitors for Murphy III in a trade, but one possible one that makes sense is the Indiana Pacers.
NBA Mock Trade: Indiana Pacers And New Orleans Pelicans
Indiana Receives:
SF Trey Murphy III
SG Jordan Hawkins
New Orleans Receives:
PG Andrew Nembhard
SF Aaron NeSmith
2030 first round pick, top-eight protected
Why This Trade Makes Sense For Indiana
The Pacers get an ideal starting wing in Murphy III to play alongside their franchise PG, Tyrese Haliburton, who is expected to be ready for the start of the 2026-2027 NBA season after missing all of the 2025-2026 season.
This past season, Murphy III averaged 21.5 PPG,5.7 RPG, and 3.8 APG. He also continued to be one of the greater threats from beyond the arc in the NBA, as she shot 37.9% from distance on 8.6 attempts per game.
Andrew Nembhard is a difficult player to move off of for how he performed during the NBA playoffs a season ago, but adding Murphy III through this mock is well worth it. He would not only improve their offense slightly, but he would also improve their defense with his versatility at his size to guard out on the perimeter and on the inside at times. This season, he also notably averaged a career high 1.5 SPG.
Outside of Murphy, Ben Sheppard, Jordan Hawkins, and Johnny Furphy would be the three main players who would need to step up to fill the void of losing NeSmith and Nembhard
Why This Trade Makes Sense For New Orleans
The Pelicans, through this mock deal, improve at the SG position with Nembhard, and although they get worse at the SF position, they get a player in NeSmith who has a similar skillset as Murphy III, and his contract cost less than half in the 20206-2027 season of Murphy's. Nehmbhard, with his playmaking ability, is a perfect fit next to PG Jeremiah Fears, who is mainly a scoring threat at the guard position.
Nehmbhard this past season averaged 16.9 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 7.7 APG. NeSmith averaged 13.8 PPG, 4.2 RPG, and 1.9 APG. He also shot 37.9% from distance on 6.2 attempts per game.
The Pelicans also get a future first round pick in this trade, making this mock deal even more enticing.
Fantasy Impact Of Mock Trade
The main winner in this mock deal in fantasy basketball is Nehmbhard. He should see a rise in points production. New Orleans has a couple of players outside of Zion Williamson who could see notable offensive usage: Fears (averaged 14.3 PPG) and Derik Queen ( averaged 11.7 PPG). While they continue to develop, Nehmbhard would likely see a higher usage on offense than the two likely to start the season.
With the addition of Murphy III, Haliburton, and Pascal Siakam are slight losers in fantasy. Both of their PPG averages would tick down.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/onsi/fantasy as NBA Mock Trade Fantasy Impact: Trey Murphy III Dealt To The Indiana Pacers.
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This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 6:28 PM.