The Indiana Pacers are on an upward trajectory. Led by Tyrese Haliburton, who has cemented himself as one of the best players in the NBA with his coming out party in the NBA In-Season Tournament, the Pacers look the part of a team that could legitimately make noise in the Eastern Conference. Thus, many believe that they'll be active in searching for trades that could address the team's biggest weakness, i.e. their defense.

At the moment, the Pacers don't have that lockdown perimeter defender who can take on the responsibility of guarding the opposition's best player on any given night. This makes them likely to pursue the likes of OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam, or maybe even Jerami Grant on the trade market. However, the Pacers are also receiving trade interest in some of the veteran players in their roster.

According to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, Pacers backup point guard TJ McConnell “has drawn ongoing interest from playoff teams in search of greater backcourt help”. Dangling McConnell, could, perhaps go a long way towards the Pacers' expected focus to explore consolidation trades that “raise” the team's ceiling.

At the moment, the Pacers are in need of TJ McConnell's services as the team's primary backup to Tyrese Haliburton. Andrew Nembhard is currently out with a knee injury that the team hopes isn't too serious, so as of late, McConnell has been playing a 15-20 minute role for Rick Carlisle's team.

Thus, there should be no urgency on the Pacers' end to part ways with McConnell. Nevertheless, McConnell should be a quality piece for any team that needs stability at the point guard position.

The 31-year old floor general has a knack for running the offense to the coach's liking, as there is plenty of value in getting the ball to ideal spots of execution. He also has a deep bag of tricks on the defensive end of the court, making the most out of his penchant of being a passing lane disruptor.

In 16 games thus far this season, McConnell is averaging 7.6 points and 4.3 assists on 53.5 percent shooting from the field.