Depending on who you ask, the Indiana Pacers just dodged a bullet. Shortly after the NBA trade deadline passed, when deals that had been agreed up before the 3 p.m. buzzer were still being announced, the Pacers and Grizzlies had reportedly agreed to a deal sending O.J. Mayo to Indiana for Josh McRoberts and a first-round draft pick.
That trade isn’t happening. Apparently Memphis backed out of the agreement at the last minute, and it couldn’t be saved before the deadline.
Mayo obviously hasn’t lived up to the otherworldly potential he showed in high school, but he’s got talent. So in what seemed like a classic case of one team’s treasure-turned-trash being another team’s reclamation project, O.J. had become expendable for Memphis and desirable to Indiana.
In a rocky season for the Grizzlies, Mayo is averaging 12.1 points after being moved to a reserve role. He was recently suspended for 10 games by the NBA for failing a performance-enhancing drug test, and made headlines by getting into a fight with teammate Tony Allen over a gambling debt.
