The Indiana Pacers spent most of their offseason keeping things steady, and the one move they did make said plenty about how they want to play. They used all of their cap space on Kelly Oubre Jr., a wing who should slide in as the team’s sixth man and give them the kind of energy, scoring, and connective play they’ve been looking for.
Oubre has spent the last few seasons as a strong bench presence for the Philadelphia 76ers, and the fit in Indiana is easy to see. He brings a lot of the same qualities Bennedict Mathurin offered during his time with the Pacers: aggressive rim pressure, enough shooting to keep defenses honest, and a style that works inside Indiana’s system. That makes him an immediate rotation piece, and likely a heavily relied-upon one in an eight-man group that will ask a lot of him on both ends.
What was less obvious before Media Day was why Oubre wanted this move so badly in the first place, especially with Indiana coming off a 19-win season. That question got a direct answer.
""The most important part of it is that nobody had to say anything to me about that [winning culture], you just see it... I'm very proud to be a part of that, and I'm very excited to instill it in my DNA as well.""
Kelly Oubre
The Pacers have never been a team that draws free agents in bunches. In fact, the source of their biggest free-agent splash in recent years might be C.J.
Miles, a useful player but hardly a franchise-altering one. Because of that, and because of some shaky draft history, Indiana has usually had to build through trades more than anything else.
Even so, they’ve managed to keep pushing forward.
It’s still a stretch to say a team that finished below 20 wins last season is suddenly ready to jump into contention, but Indiana at least has a structure that makes the idea feel plausible. Tyrese Haliburton is back from his Achilles tendon tear to run the offense again.
Zubac and Siakam give the Pacers more than just complementary pieces, and both can change the way the team plays when Haliburton sits. Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith should space the floor and work into open looks from deep.
TJ McConnell will keep setting the tone off the bench.
And Oubre is there to add to all of it.
In Other News...
Pacers Have An Obvious T.J. McConnell Successor With One Big Catch
T.J. McConnell has given the Pacers a steady veteran presence at backup point guard, but at some point Indiana will have to start thinking about life after him. Miles McBride looks like the kind of guard who could fit that role, bringing energy and depth at a position the Pacers will need to keep stocked as McConnell approaches the back end of his NBA run.
The catch is obvious enough: McBride is with the Knicks, and dealing with a direct rival is never simple. He is also looking for a contract extension, which could force New York into a difficult decision if the price gets too high, but the path from that possibility to an actual move is complicated by how rare these rival-to-rival deals tend to be. [Read more 🡒]
Tyrese Haliburton Puts The Pacers In A Risky Long Term Spot
Tyrese Haliburton is set to return to the Pacers after missing the 2025-26 season because of injury, and his comeback immediately puts Indiana in a tricky long-term spot. Even with his importance to the franchise clear, the front office has taken a wait-and-see approach, with GM Chad Buchanan and the team showing no current interest in opening extension talks for Haliburton or the rest of the core.
Haliburton is already extension-eligible despite still having three years left on his deal, which makes the timing of any decision more delicate. Indiana has to weigh the appeal of locking in its centerpiece against the financial risk of acting too early on a player coming off a major injury, especially with recent precedent around similar cases hanging over the conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Tyrese Haliburton Just Changed Everything For The Pacers This Season
Tyrese Haliburton says he is fully healthy and ready for the upcoming NBA season, a significant development for a Pacers team that spent last year without its lead guard because of an Achilles tendon injury. Since signing a five-year contract extension in July 2023, Haliburton has remained central to Indianas long-term plans, and his return changes the look and feel of a roster that has been reshaped around him.
The Pacers have made several roster moves and already have a projected starting lineup for the upcoming season, but Haliburtons availability is the real pivot point for everything. He is also expected to be a starter for the team in the 2026-27 season, which underscores how much Indiana is still building with him at the center, even as the details of how quickly this group clicks remain to be seen. [Read more 🡒]