Around Christmas last season, Pascal Siakam let his frustration spill out as the Pacers’ year unraveled. Indiana had already stumbled to 6-24, injuries were mounting, and what was supposed to be at least a play-in-level season had turned into something far worse. Siakam’s message was blunt: the group had to stop accepting losing.
An honest and transparent Pascal Siakam after the Pacers fall to 6-24:“When we decide that losing is not ok, we’re gonna go somewhere. But if we go out there every single day and it just feels like, okay, we lost another game, it does not matter, we’re just gonna keep sinking.… pic.twitter.com/q3STW7ePF0
The collapse ended with Indiana at 19-63, a franchise-worst record, and even the late push for a top-four draft pick came up short. It was a season that looked nothing like the one the Pacers expected after back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals appearances.
Now the mood has flipped. Tyrese Haliburton is back healthy, and the arrivals of Ivica Zubac and Kelly Oubre Jr. have raised the ceiling again. That’s the setup for a question On SI writers are now tackling: can Indiana jump from 19 wins to 50?
That kind of leap would be enormous, but not unheard of. The biggest single-season turnaround in NBA history belongs to the 2007-08 Celtics, who went from 24 wins to 66, a 42-win swing. San Antonio’s 1997-98 team posted a 36-game improvement after winning 20 games the year before, and the Pistons just went from 14 wins to 44 in 2024-25, a 30-win jump.
For the Pacers, going from 19 to 50 would mean a 31-win surge, which would rank as the sixth-biggest improvement in league history.
That number is also made sharper by what Indiana just lived through. The Pacers finished the 2024-25 season with 50 wins, then dropped 31 games the next year. That slide is tied for the seventh-worst in NBA history by win percentage and underscores how much Haliburton means to everything they do.
The teams ahead of Indiana in that category include the Bulls after Jordan and Pippen, the Cavaliers after LeBron twice, the Warriors season when Steph Curry played only five games, the Spurs after David Robinson played in just six games and before Tim Duncan arrived, the 1982 Rockets after trading Moses Malone, and the 1964 Warriors after trading Wilt Chamberlain.
That list says plenty on its own. Losing a star can wreck a season. But Haliburton’s impact puts him in rare company, and Indiana’s ceiling changes fast when he’s on the floor.
One argument for a big rebound is simple: the Pacers have the pieces. Rick Carlisle remains one of the sharpest coaches in the league, Siakam is still one of the best forwards around, and the roster has enough depth to support a serious regular season push. With health on their side, 50 wins is on the table.
Another view is a little more cautious. Indiana’s path back to the top won’t be easy because the East is deeper, and the Pacers’ 19-win season had a lot to do with injuries and never finding rhythm.
One writer pointed to the team’s chemistry, pace, and style as reasons to believe the group can climb back quickly, while also noting that Oubre can help on both ends and shot the ball much better from three this past season. That case comes down to how well Indiana starts and how often it can win against the East’s better teams.
Still, the conference itself may be the biggest obstacle. From top to bottom, the East is stronger than it has been, and there may only be one or two teams capable of getting to 50 wins.
There are also fewer easy nights around the league. Brooklyn is the only team that really looks talent-deficient, and with tanking less attractive under the new lottery rules, the schedule is less padded with automatic wins.
That means the East has to pick up more victories against the softer end of the West, and there just aren’t as many of those games anymore.
There’s also the matter of time. Indiana has to get the new pieces settled in, and Haliburton still needs to get fully up to speed. Because of that, a finish in the 45-to-47 win range would still count as a strong season, especially if it leads to a meaningful playoff run.
In Other News...
Pacers Fans Finally Have A New Way To Watch This Season
After a season in which many Pacers fans had to piece together how and where to follow the team, there is finally a clearer local viewing option on the horizon. Indianas new broadcast partnership with DAZN gives the fan base another way to watch the Pacers this season, a welcome bit of stability for a team that has spent enough time lately giving people reasons to circle dates and tune in.
The arrangement matters because local access has become part of the modern NBA experience, and Pacers followers have been looking for a cleaner solution. While other league news has centered on contract standoffs and summer development stories around the conference, this is the kind of off-court change that can still shape how a season feels from the start, especially for fans who just want a reliable way to keep up every night. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Linked To Veteran Reunion That Could Help A Finals Push
The Pacers roster shuffle left them with a little flexibility, and that has naturally turned attention toward a familiar face. After waiving Ethan Thompson and signing Braden Smith to a two-way contract, Indiana still has an open spot, and James Johnson has emerged as a possible reunion candidate for a club trying to keep its rotation steady while staying in the mix for a Finals push.
Johnson is the sort of veteran addition teams tend to revisit when the games get bigger and the margin for error gets smaller. He has bounced around the league, has already given Indiana a useful bench presence before, and brings the kind of leadership and locker room value that can matter as much as on-court minutes in a deep postseason run. Whether the Pacers decide to go that route remains the part worth watching. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Still Need Johnny Furphy To Answer One Lingering Bench Question
Johnny Furphys second NBA season has offered a little more runway, but not nearly enough clarity for the Pacers to feel settled about his role. The former Kansas second-round pick has appeared in 85 of a possible 164 games over his first two years, and last Februarys ACL injury only added another layer of interruption to a development path that has already been uneven. Indiana has seen enough to keep him in the conversation as a backup wing, especially with his size and youth, but the overall package still feels more like a work in progress than a finished rotation piece.
The encouraging part is that Furphy has handled more minutes and shown some scoring growth when hes been on the floor. The part Indiana still needs answered is whether the shot can become reliable enough to translate those flashes into steady NBA production. Until that happens, his case is less about what he has already become and more about whether he can prove he belongs in a bench role the Pacers can actually count on. [Read more 🡒]