Indiana wanted some depth and athleticism in the wing behind likely starters Monta Ellis and Paul George, so they went out and traded for it.
Indiana has acquired Chase Budinger from the Timberwolves in a trade, reports Adrian Wojnaorski of Yahoo Sports.
Minnesota is nearing agreement on a trade to send Chase Budinger to the Indiana Pacers, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 11, 2015
As part of the Budinger deal, Indiana will send forward Damjan Rudez to Minnesota, league sources said. Deal should be finalized today.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 11, 2015
I like this deal better for the Timberwolves.
You may not recognize the name Damjan Rudez but here’s what you should know: The guy can shoot the rock. He’s a 6'10" Croation who can play the three or stretch four, and shot 40 percent from three as a rookie last year playing 15 minutes a night. While the Timberwolves have depth at the three and four slots — Andrew Wiggins, Shabazz Muhammad, Kevin Garnett, Gorgui Dieng and others — you can never have enough shooting. Rudez is going to get some minutes and hit some buckets.
Budinger can shoot the ball, but he has lost some of his trademark athleticism after years of injuries, which limited him to 67 games last season. He averaged 6.8 points and three rebounds in 19 minutes a night when he did play, plus he shot almost 37 percent from three. That lack of athleticism has hurt Budinger’s defense as well in recent years.
However, near the end of the season (the last couple months) Budinger seemed to have some of his bounce back and with that was a pretty good player. In the final six weeks of the season, he averaged 12.3 points and shot 39 percent from three, playing 29 minutes a night. If that’s the guy the Pacers can get for an entire season this will be a good trade for them.
It’s just, with his injury history, it’s hard to bet on it.