When the Indiana Pacers traded Miles Plumlee, Gerald Green and a 2014 first round pick for Luis Scola this past off-season, it was expected that Scola would be the piece that could push the Pacers into contention with the Miami Heat for the Eastern Conference title. However, with the Pacers recent purple patch it is increasingly looking like Scola is out of place in Indiana.
The Pacers are 3-7 in the past ten games, and are now a half game back of the Miami Heat. Reflecting this they are slipping behind in the bookmaker’s eyes and are now ranked well back of the Heat according to the NBA futures odds on TopBet.
Scola had a solid start this season, shooting 53.2% over the first 30 games of the season, but he in the 47 games since then he has hit just 40.9% of his attempts (Statistics taken from nba.com/stats). With the Pacers heading into the playoffs off a run of bad form it will be imperative for them to get a meaningful contribution from Scola if they are to go one better than last year and reach the NBA Finals.
Given Scola’s recent poor form it seems highly unlikely that the Pacers will want to keep him beyond next season, but given his contract is not guaranteed for next season, meaning he can be cut without financial repercussion, he could be a valuable trade asset. This would mean that a team looking to shed salary could trade for Scola and cut him immediately.
If this were to happen Scola would be free to sign with any team, in the NBA or in Europe. With it looking like a number of big name and money moves could be happening in Europe this offseason it would not be outside of the realm of possibility to see an offer to lure Scola back to Europe.
