A second lost Pacers season would be hard to stomach, and the reasons behind it would matter just as much as the record.
Indiana already spent the 2025-26 campaign in a ditch after Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles tendon in a do-or-die Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. That blow effectively killed the year before it began.
And once the season started, things only slid further. Pascal Siakam battled injury problems, Aaron Nesmith did too, and Andrew Nembhard never made the meaningful leap many expected after the idea of a “gap year” was first floated.
The result was a Pacers team that was simply not worth watching unless you were specifically tuning in to see fringe NBA players fight for a foothold. The only real bright spot from that miserable stretch was the trade for Ivica Zubac, though he appeared in only five games in Indiana.
One lost season can be waved off. It happens.
Even eras need a bad year now and then, and the Pacers have lived through that kind of thing before, including the stretch after Paul George snapped his leg during Olympic qualifiers. Back then, the team was trying to stay respectable and just couldn’t get there.
There was no real hope, but that was acceptable.
A repeat now would be different. Haliburton, Siakam and Nesmith are expected back, and Indiana is supposed to climb right back into the mix in a crowded Eastern Conference of doom. But if that doesn’t happen - if Haliburton isn’t the same player, if the injuries keep piling up, if the disappointment stretches from one bad year into a real pattern - then the question gets uglier fast.
What happens then?
If the Pacers were back in the lottery in 2027, there would really only be a few explanations: another injury-ravaged season, a Haliburton comeback that never fully came, or the uncomfortable possibility that Indiana just wasn’t as good as it looked when it caught fire in 2024-25.
The first scenario would put a clock on the whole thing. TJ McConnell is 34.
Pascal Siakam is 32. Ivica Zubac is 29.
Those are not ages that leave much room to waste time, especially with new contracts looming and prime years slipping away.
The second would be even more alarming. Without Haliburton at full strength, Indiana loses the engine that makes everything go.
At that point, the roster would be carrying parts without the horsepower to make them matter. The path forward would point toward a teardown and a search for value wherever the trade market could provide it.
And if the third explanation is the truth, that may be the bleakest outcome of all.
Two seasons ago, Indiana basketball was fun. It played fast, moved the ball cleanly and didn’t revolve around one player being the face of every promotional image.
In Other News...
Pacers May Have Passed On Their Boldest Title Swing Yet
The idea of Giannis Antetokounmpo in an Indiana Pacers uniform is the kind of hypothetical that stops a season cold, even if it never got close to reality. The piece looks at what a Milwaukee Bucks trade framework might have demanded from Indiana and why the Pacers, with their roster as constructed, could have been an intriguing fit for a superstar whose downhill force and rim pressure change everything around him.
It also underscores the risk and cost of a swing that enormous, because any deal for Antetokounmpo would have required a massive haul going the other way. Still, the appeal is obvious: a player of that caliber could have put Indiana squarely in championship-contender territory, even if the article makes clear the scenario was far more fantasy than negotiation. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Add Four Undrafted Prospects Worth Watching Closely
The Pacers kept their post-draft pipeline moving by formally bringing in four undrafted prospects on Exhibit 10 deals: Keba Keita, Rienk Mast, Kowacie Reeves Jr. and Jalen Warley. All four spent time with Indianas Summer League group, which gave the staff another extended look at players who are still trying to carve out a foothold after going undrafted in 2026.
For Indiana, the signing is as much about maintaining flexibility as it is about sorting out the back end of the roster. If any of the four are waived before the season, they could still be in line for bonuses by sticking with the Pacers G League affiliate, the Noblesville Boom, giving the organization a built-in way to keep tabs on developmental options without using a standard roster spot. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Offseason Suddenly Looks Thin For One Painful Reason
The Pacers and Jazz finished with similarly rough records last season, but the way their summers have unfolded has looked nothing alike. Utah landed a top-four pick, added Darryn Peterson and Jaren Jackson Jr., and stayed busy by re-signing Keyonte George and dealing Walker Kessler for future picks. Indiana, meanwhile, shipped its 2023 first-round pick to the Clippers in the Ivica Zubac trade, leaving the front office with far less maneuvering room as it tried to add around its core.
Indiana's quieter offseason has only sharpened the focus on Tyrese Haliburton and whether he can get back to the level the Pacers need. With fewer obvious reinforcements coming and the roster looking thinner than some of its peers, the burden of making this team look like a contender falls even more heavily on internal improvement. For a franchise that expected a more active summer, the gap between where the Pacers are and where they want to be feels especially stark. [Read more 🡒]