The Indiana Pacers might not need a long debate to understand where they stand in this year’s NBA Cup picture. The schedule is one thing.
The bracket path is another. But the group they landed in makes the challenge pretty clear.
Indiana is set to deal with the Miami Heat with new addition Giannis Antetokounmpo, the reigning Cup and league champion New York Knicks, and the star-studded Philadelphia 76ers with LeBron James in tow. That’s a brutal draw by any standard, and the Pacers appear to be in the bottom two of the group, with only the Heat’s porous roster depth keeping them from being the obvious bottom team.
That means the Cup may end up being the Pacers’ first real stress test, even if the whole event still carries the weird energy the NBA Cup has had since it arrived in the 2023-24 season.
The tournament has already built a strange little history for itself. It’s been dismissed plenty as a sideshow, but it has also produced some of the most entertaining regular-season games in recent memory.
In the first year, the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Pacers 123-109 in late December to win the inaugural title. That Lakers team later reached the playoffs as an eighth seed and won only one game against the eventual champion Denver Nuggets.
The next year, Darvin Ham, who had coached the Lakers in that title game, went back-to-back by joining Doc Rivers’ coaching staff on a rough Milwaukee Bucks team that still managed to win the Cup. That Bucks season ended badly, with Indiana knocking them out in a result that quickly became familiar.
Last season changed the tone a bit. The first two winners had shown that a good team could get hot in November and December and take the In-Season Tournament without really looking like a true championship threat. Then the Knicks won it, and that idea lost some of its bite.
So even if the Larry O’Brien trophy still matters way more than its millennial equivalent, there’s at least something to the idea of Indiana taking home a trophy. The Pacers were in the mix in that first season, but since then they have had trouble getting out of their groups.
The precedent is there. Now it’s on Indiana to try to follow the rest of the East.
In Other News...
Tyrese Haliburton Shared The Trade-Day Moment That Changed Indiana
Tyrese Haliburtons path to Indiana began with one of those career-defining phone calls that players never quite forget. He arrived from Sacramento in the deal that sent Domantas Sabonis the other way, and in the years since, the Pacers have been waiting on the version of Haliburton that can steer a team with pace, creativity and control. Last season only sharpened that anticipation, because he spent the entire year recovering from the Achilles injury he suffered two seasons ago.
Indiana felt the difference without him. The Pacers struggled to find the same rhythm in his absence, and now the outlook is more encouraging with Haliburton healthy again and Ivica Zubac added to the mix. What makes the story linger is the trade-day moment Haliburton recently revisited, a detail that helps explain how abruptly Indianas direction changed and why the Pacers still view that move as the point where everything started to shift. [Read more 🡒]
Colts Give Fans A Powerful Reason To Rally Beyond Football
The Colts helped lead a regional response this week as the franchise, along with the Pacers, Fever and Noblesville Boom, announced a joint $250,000 donation to the American Red Cross for flood relief in Central Indiana. The move comes after severe flooding caused casualties and property damage across the state, and it reflects how the areas pro sports teams often try to step in when the community needs help beyond the game.
Kalen Jackson, one of the Colts co-owners, said the impact of the flooding hit close to home, underscoring how widespread the damage has been. For Pacers fans, it is a reminder that the organizations connection to Indianapolis extends well beyond the court, with the franchise joining its local counterparts in trying to provide support during a difficult stretch for the region. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Finally Lock In Braden Smith After Long Summer Wait
Braden Smiths long summer wait finally ended when the Pacers officially signed the Purdue point guard to a two-way contract, bringing him into the organization after using the No. 38 pick on him in the draft. Indiana got Smith by dealing Kam Jones and pick swaps to the Bulls, and the move now gives the former Boilermaker a clear NBA landing spot as he tries to turn that draft-night value into a role with the franchise.
To make room, the Pacers waived Ethan Thompson, who has signed overseas, and that left Indiana with its three two-way contracts set for the 2026-27 season. Smith joins Kobe Brown and Jalen Slawson in that group, giving the Pacers a little more depth and some developmental options as they continue sorting out the back end of the roster. [Read more 🡒]