NBA Rumors: Pacers Must Gamble on Eric Gordon in Free Agency

The New Orleans Hornets and their newly-acquired star shooting guard Eric Gordon have reached a decision to put off signing an extension until after the season rather than try to get something done by this Wednesday's deadline. 

"

"Eric Gordon said Friday morning it was a mutual decision between him and the franchise to put off trying to get an extension agreement finalized before Wednesday’s deadline. Gordon will become a restricted free agent on July 1, and the Hornets general manager Dell Demps said they will make a push to re-sign him.

"It wasn’t that I turned down anything, it works both ways,’’ Gordon said. ``Yes, I’ll be restricted, but I am just a basketball player right now and the future is unclear. All I can do is worry about coming back at this point to try and help the team win games at the end of the year. It’s not the best situation, but it’s also not the worst. As long as I get back playing that will be the thing.’’

"

In other words, maybe he will and maybe he won't be a Hornet next year. This begs the question, if not New Orleans, where?

How about the Indiana Pacers? Marc Spears seems to think so. 

There's good reason to believe they'd go after the Indianapolis native.

First, the Pacers have the money to go after him. They have been building a quality team for the last couple of years and they've been financially prudent in doing it. They have four of their current starting five under contract next year, and only $37 million locked up for next season. 

That means they have the money to offer Gordon a substantial contract of around $10 million, as well as a contract for Hibbert of about the same. Technically, they can sign Gordon for more and then go over the cap to extend Roy Hibbert. 

Gordon is arguably the best young shooting guard in the game right now. Adding him to a starting five of Darren Collison, Danny Granger, David West and Hibbert would give them one of the most balanced starting fives in the NBA. 

The Pacers are trying to establish themselves as "contenders" and not merely "pretenders" this season, and adding Gordon would certainly vault them into contender status.

There's some gamble here based on Gordon's injury history, though. He's already missed significant time this year, and he's expected to miss a few more weeks. It will be the third straight season in which he's missed at least 20 games. 

Still, when he's on the court he's been a high-quality player, averaging 22.3 points and 4.4 assists per game. He could be enough to make the Pacers a valid contender for a championship. The reward risk-reward assessment makes him more than worth the risk.