Indiana’s media day kept circling back to one theme: getting back to a standard the Pacers no longer have in hand.
That was the undercurrent all summer for fans, too. There were the rumors about Tyrese Haliburton’s return.
There were the think pieces about the Ivica Zubac trade to Indiana and the loss of the fifth overall pick. And there was the simple reality that almost every other team in the Eastern Conference got better.
So yes, the anxiety makes sense. The Pacers have spent the last 12 months piling up obstacles between themselves and a championship chase. But the people around the team sounded focused on a more basic task before any grander goal can come back into view: becoming good again.
That message came from everywhere. Rick Carlisle said it.
Pascal Siakam said it. Kelly Oubre Jr. said it.
Tyrese Haliburton said it. The idea was the same each time - this isn’t about jumping straight to the finish line.
It’s about rebuilding the foundation first.
That matters because Indiana won 19 games last season. That was not a good team, and everyone around the organization knows it. Before the Pacers can think about a 60-win season or another playoff run like the one they had as a fourth seed in 2024-25, they have to sort out the new rules of how this group is supposed to function.
Haliburton sits at the center of that process, and in some ways he has the hardest job of anyone. The rest of the roster spent a long stretch adjusting to life without him. Now they’re being asked to snap back into the old order while also depending on him to help restore it.
That kind of reset is rarely clean. During the gap year, players settle into different responsibilities.
Andrew Nembhard had the ball more. Pascal Siakam and Ivica Zubac were able to operate at a slower pace.
Even the Pacers’ familiar identity around rebounding and outlet passing shifted.
That’s the challenge now: putting those pieces back together after everyone has already adapted to something else. It’s not impossible.
These are professional players, and no one around the team doubts they can figure it out again. But the idea that this is as simple as muscle memory, or something as automatic as riding a bike, misses the point.
It’s harder than that. Settling back into a rhythm usually takes more work than maintaining one in the first place.
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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 🡒]
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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 🡒]