The Pacers have may have lost this game, but they provided what the NBA sorely needed: a blueprint on how to beat the Milwaukee Bucks. That blueprint? Take Domantas Sabonis, have him back his ass up into Thon Maker/John Henson/whichever random jabroni is guarding him, and tell him to shoot the ball in the basket.
For this blueprint to be useful to other teams in the Eastern Conference, Sabonis would have to be traded. That’s the downside of it. The other downside is that his ass-dominance didn’t actually result in a win. But the upside is that he has super high trade value right now. Think LeBron wants to get to the finals? Hell yeah he does. To do that, he’ll have to go through Milwaukee, and to go through Milwaukee, he’ll need Sabonis. The Pacers have the Cavs by the balls in this scenario, and can ask for whatever they want. Love, Thomas, and Korver? LeGM has no choice but to say yes.