Pacers, Warriors shake things up with eight-player trade

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Almost every player involved in the Indiana Pacers' eight-man trade with the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday is likely to welcome the change of scenery.

The Pacers traded Al Harrington and Stephen Jackson to Golden State for forwards Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy in a large, bold deal to shake up two struggling teams.

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The Pacers also sent guard Sarunas Jasikevicius and forward Josh Powell to the Warriors, who gave up forward Ike Diogu and guard Keith McLeod. According to Chris Mullin, the Warriors' vice president and a former player for both teams, the wholesale shuffle will benefit everyone involved.

"This is a situation where both teams feel good about what's going to happen," Mullin said. "They're all key components. All these guys that are in the deal, they're going to have good roles with their new teams."

Murphy, Dunleavy and Diogu had been reduced to high-priced backups for failing to produce more in new coach Don Nelson's offensive-minded system. Both Murphy and Dunleavy have hefty contracts that allowed Golden State to finish the deal with significantly less financial impact than the Pacers.

"I think this makes us more athletic," Nelson said. "I was looking for a little more dominance in my players, and I think this gives us that look."

Harrington, the most accomplished player in the trade, struggled to get comfortable alongside Jermaine O'Neal in his first season back with Indiana. Meanwhile, Jackson has been dogged by legal troubles and attitude problems all season, embarrassing the club with an early season fight at a strip club and a spat with coach Rick Carlisle last month.

Al Harrington could thrive while playing in Don Nelson's up-tempo system. (Getty Images)

"I think he was in a difficult environment for him," Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh said of Jackson, who averaged 14.1 points this season. "No matter what he was going to do, he wasn't going to outlive that environment. So I think it's good for him to go to another city and start fresh, and I think it's good for our team as well."

The deal left injury-plagued Golden State with just six healthy players on its roster for Wednesday night's game against the Los Angeles Clippers -- two fewer than the NBA minimum required to avoid forfeiting a game. The Warriors quickly signed NBA Development League forward Renaldo Major a 10-day contract, and they planned to suit up injured center Adonal Foyle to avoid the forfeit.

Harrington was one of the Warriors' top targets in free agency last season, but went back to Indiana - where he started his career - in a sign-and-trade deal with Atlanta. He averaged 15.9 points and 6.3 rebounds this season, second on the team in both categories to O'Neal, who plays much the same position.

"That's the heartbreak in it," Walsh said. "He would have fit in here, but he was playing (small forward) more than he was playing (power forward). I'm not sure he's a good fit at (power forward) with Jermaine. When you really looked at it, I don't know if the two players complemented each other as well as we thought they could."

O'Neal, frustrated with Indiana's mediocrity, called it a "bold move" - though it meant the departure of his close friend Harrington.

"Everybody expects me to go into such a tirade about one of my better friends in Al Harrington being traded," O'Neal said. "I'm hurt on a personal level. On a business level, we all understand it's a business. My job is to come out and make sure that the guys that we have left step their games up, and the guys coming in are comfortable and are accepted to this team."