The Indiana Pacers are feeling the weight of a season that’s spiraling fast-and the frustration is starting to spill out into the open.
After Tuesday night’s 17-point loss to the Bucks, their sixth straight defeat, Pascal Siakam didn’t hold back. The veteran forward spoke candidly-and at length-about the team’s lack of energy, effort, and identity.
His message was clear: this isn’t just about losing games. It’s about how they’re losing.
“We just didn’t play with any pace, any determination,” Siakam said postgame. “It looked out there like we were just jacking shots sometimes.
We played with no force. We just didn’t have it.”
That kind of blunt honesty is rare in today’s NBA, but it speaks to where the Pacers are right now-mentally and physically. Siakam, who’s known for his high motor and competitive fire, didn’t sugarcoat the situation. He painted a picture of a team that looks slow, disjointed, and lacking the kind of urgency you need to compete at this level.
“It’s hard to evaluate our offense because it just looked like we didn’t try hard enough,” he continued. “It doesn’t look like we have any pace or any pep to anything that we’re doing.
We just look slow. There’s no energy.
It’s not fun to be around.”
That’s a sharp contrast from where this team was just six months ago-one win away from their first NBA title. But things changed in a hurry.
Tyrese Haliburton’s Achilles tear in Game 7 of the Finals was a gut punch, and the aftershocks have carried into this season. Without their star guard, the Pacers have struggled to find rhythm or consistency, and a wave of injuries hasn’t helped.
In the past six weeks alone, Indiana has had to lean on hardship signings-Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Garrison Mathews, Gabe McGlothan, and James Wiseman-just to field a functional roster. That’s not a knock on those players, but it’s tough to build chemistry or continuity when your lineup is constantly in flux.
Siakam’s frustration isn’t just about the losses piling up-it’s about the feeling that the competitive fire isn’t burning the way it should be.
“I really care about it and I hate, I hate, I hate losing, so it’s not fun,” he admitted. “It’s hard.
I don’t think I’ve been the happiest. Maybe I have to fix it.
I don’t look good out there most of the time, just because I can’t stand it. It drives me crazy.”
That kind of emotional toll is real. Losing in the NBA isn’t just about standings-it chips away at confidence, cohesion, and culture. And for players like Siakam, who’ve been in winning environments, it’s a tough pill to swallow.
He’s still putting in the work-watching film, analyzing his game, trying to find ways to lead. But he stopped short of saying whether everyone else in the locker room is matching that level of commitment.
“I don’t know,” he said. “The product isn’t good.
We’re losing games. We have to figure it out.
We all have to ask ourselves, ‘What can we do?’ Everyone has to come in wanting to make a change.”
The Pacers are now 6-24, and any realistic shot at a play-in spot is slipping away. From a front-office perspective, that might not be the worst thing. A bottom-tier finish could land them a top draft pick and fast-track a return to contention-especially with Haliburton expected back at full strength next season and most of last year’s core still intact.
But for the guys in the locker room, especially veterans like Siakam and T.J. McConnell, that long-term view doesn’t ease the sting of what’s happening right now.
They’re competitors. They want to win.
And when the effort doesn’t match the expectation, it gets under your skin.
There’s still time to salvage something from this season-growth, development, maybe even a renewed sense of identity. But it starts with accountability. And if Siakam’s message is any indication, that conversation is already underway inside the Pacers’ locker room.