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At 29, Ivica Zubac should be in his prime. The Pacers likely needed to pay a premium for his deal, which will pay him just $42.1 million over the next two seasons. Additionally, the rest of the lottery is likely to be dotted with point guards. With Haliburton, the Pacers are set there, so protecting a pick further into the lottery had diminishing value for Indiana. Despite the risk of losing this year’s pick, Pritchard said the trade framework allowed the Pacers to keep most of their future draft flexibility intact. He suggested they expect to be active and will look for moves this summer. “Everybody says, well, why didn’t you protect it a lot deeper?” Pritchard said. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to. That was the vig for us to get Zu.”