Thanks to several injuries, the Indiana Pacers' conference title defense was pretty much over before it ever started.
Though the NBA Playoffs are in full swing, the buzzer has sounded for several other teams on the Association's ledger.
As it stands, 14 teams are focused on a different kind of ball during the hardwood holidays, as ping-pong balls will decide their respective fates at the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery (May 10). This year's draft class is stocked with prime talents that will hopefully lead these teams out of the mire, but it's worth analyzing how they got into these situations in the first place.
With that in mind, Ballislife leads into the 2026 Draft Lottery by looking back on the voyages of the damned, going in order of top lottery odds. Part two turns to the Indiana Pacers ...
Team: Indiana Pacers
Record: 19-63
Last Playoff Appearance: 2025
Chance at No. 1 Pick: 14%
What Went Wrong
Any Pacer fan that claimed they would give "anything" to return to the NBA Finals was forced to foot the bill immediately.
A seven-game showing against the Oklahoma City Thunder ended in heartbreak when franchise face Tyrese Haliburton endured a devastating Achilles injury in the finale. That set an ominous tone for the conference title defense, as did the departure of tenured staple Myles Turner.
Unlike several of their lottery contemporaries, the Pacers didn't wait to pack the injury report: joining Haliburton in medical absentia was fellow conference champions Aaron Nesmith and Obi Toppin, both of whom appeared in fewer than 50 games. That set the tone for a dreadful start, as losses in all but two of their first 18 games essentially ended the defense before it started and yielded the worst season in Pacers history.
It's easy to blame injuries for the Pacer pratfalls, but a closer look at the ledgers indicates that a healthy Haliburton was not the automatic ticket to a Finals return trip. The team, for example, did little to replace the expansive production of Turner.
Memphis import Jay Huff had a decent defensive prowess but failed to replace Turner's scoring while more familiar projects like Tony Bradley, Isaiah Jackson, and Micah Potter struggled in extended opportunities. Things got so desperate that the Pacers temporarily turned to James Wiseman, one of the more notorious washouts in recent draft memory, to play the spot, and wound up releasing him to temporarily employ Slam Dunk Contest folk hero Mac McClung.
Like the Washington Wizards before them, the Pacers eventually took the most ethical approach to the tanking epidemic by securing assets for their supposed resurgence. They finally addressed the interior problem by trading for Ivica Zubac in a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers, one that sacrificed homegrown heroes Jackson and Bennedict Mathurin.
Zubac, who played five games in Indianapolis' yellow before being shutdown with a rib injury, is more of a traditional center compared to Turner but he should form a formidable triumvirate with Haliburton and Pascal Siakam once the Pacers regain their bearings at next year's tip. The trade, however, also sent away the peace of lottery night, as the Pacers' primary pick will transfer to the Clippers if the ping pong balls place between the fifth and ninth slots.
[realted]
Top Silver Lining
For all their struggles and destruction of norms, the Pacers continued to enjoy All-Star antics of Siakam, who averaged 24 points for the first time since his final full season in Toronto back in 2022-23. Thanks to Siakam, the Pacers had at least some brand of representation at the SoCal festivities, making his fourth such showing to break out from the disaster.
Prior to this season, Indiana had never truly bottomed out, forcing to rely primarily on trades in this era led by the duology of general manager Chad Buchanan and president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard. If not for the Haliburton heist from Sacramento, importing Siakam from up north (where the biggest casualty was Bruce Brown) might've gone down as their magnum opus.
Looking Ahead
A literal big three of Haliburton, Siakam, and Zubac—and their accompanying health, of course—should immediately thrust the Pacers back into the assured portions of the Eastern Conference playoff bracket. Add the idea that a top three pick, maybe even the first, is going to join them, and it wouldn't be out of line to suggest it could be among the contenders.
However, Indiana faces one of the typical pratfalls some of the lottery mainstays face on a more routine basis: protections. Most of Indiana's primary men are secured but it loses the pick if it falls out of the top five. If the pick indeed crosses coasts, the silver lining is that it essentially answers the question of whether Zubac will land a $95 million extension.
While it feels like there's plenty of surefire selections at the top of this draft, the Pacers will have to overcome some dire draft luck that has plagued them during the Buchanan/Pritchard era. The draft has been a rare blemish on the Pacers' resumes of the 2020s. Ben Sheppard and Jarace Walker should be able to land rookie scale extensions to shore up the second and Andrew Nembhard is perhaps one of the top second-round finds in recent memory. But it's perhaps troubling that some of the Pacers' more recent lottery picks (i.e. Mathurin, Chris Duarte) have already moved on, which will put the potentially incoming lottery in a bit of a compromising position.
Is There Hope?
A full-strength Pacers team was one win away from lifting the Larry O'Brien Trophy and a good number of those who fell just short are still stationed near the Brickyard. It'd be a tragedy if there wasn't hope on the Pacer docket as a result.
Even if the Pacers' pick heads west, there's enough name-brand goodwill built up on the roster as is. But with the new financial commitments to Zubac and architects of the recent success (i.e. Nesmith, TJ MConnell) signed to long-term deals, the Pacers do enter unfamiliar, more desperate territory: win-now mode. Haliburton, McConnell, and Nesmith are all signed through 2029, which gives them a sizable window to return to the Finals, but it's one Indiana must take advantage of, especially before the pricier portions of the Siakam and Zubac contracts (as well as each moving into the wrong side of age 30) kick in.
It'll be interesting to see Zubac's long-term fit considering he lacks the expanded shooting range of Turner, especially on a team that has prided itself on prevailing and advancing through clutch antics in shootouts where the scoreboard resembles state lottery jackpots. The way Indiana's second unit struggled in a larger spotlight this year could also have them wheeling and dealing to avoid giving even more expensive extensions.
All in all, it feels like the Pacers are simply an extreme version of what many felt the Boston Celtics would be this year: a contending group that was forced into an unexpected gap year. Time will tell if Indiana is able to capitalize on the potential packed from within but, all things considered, the Pacers have set themselves up fairly handsomely.
Past Lottery Looks
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
