Rick Carlisle isn’t interested in loud predictions or summer chest-thumping. He’s setting a different tone for the Pacers, one built around urgency, health and a better opening stretch than Indiana has managed in recent years.
“We want to start fast and finish strong.” Carlisle said that to Draymond Green on The Draymond Green Show while discussing the Pacers’ upcoming season.
That message comes after a wild two-year swing for Indiana. The franchise reached Game 7 of the NBA Finals just two seasons removed from its greatest season in decades, then turned around and posted the worst record in team history at 19-63.
With Tyrese Haliburton back on the floor, the expectations around the Pacers are rising again, and Carlisle made it clear the standard inside the building is no secret.
“Our expectations internally are going to be high,” Carlisle told Green. “Draymond, you know this, but you don't win championships talking about it in July and August. We're going to keep things on a low profile and internally we'll set our standards high.”
Carlisle also pointed to the slow starts that have tripped up Indiana in the past. The Pacers opened slowly in both of their recent deep runs, something he said has to change if they want another real shot at a title.
“You know both years we went to the Conference Finals in '24 and the NBA Finals (Game 7) in '25, we had slow starts.” Carlisle continued, “The big thing this summer is health. Getting everybody completely healthy and ramping up conditioning so that we can have a healthy training camp and get into the season.”
Green brought up the idea of the Pacers being a sleeper in the East, and Carlisle didn’t lean into the label. He also pushed back on the notion that one conference has become dramatically tougher than the other.
“the whole league is hard” he said, adding that there are several strong teams in both conferences.
As for how Indiana plans to handle being overlooked, Carlisle kept the answer simple.
“we're not going to do a lot of talking, we're going to do a lot of preparing.”
That fits the moment for the Pacers. They’ve already lived through the high of a Finals run and the low of a franchise-worst season. Now the challenge is turning that experience into another serious push, with Carlisle emphasizing that the work has to happen long before anyone starts talking about banners.
In Other News...
Pacers Suddenly Face A Tougher East Than Fans Expected
The Eastern Conference has quietly become a much less forgiving place for Indiana, and the Pacers are feeling it before the season even settles in. Boston, Milwaukee and New York have each already shown they can win at the top of the bracket, while a wave of roster movement across the East has only tightened the race around them. Indiana made its own move with the midseason trade for Ivica Zubac, but the conference around it has been busy reshaping itself too.
Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins have been added elsewhere, Giannis Antetokounmpo remains the kind of centerpiece who changes a season by himself, and Norman Powell is part of the growing depth that makes this group less predictable than the one the Pacers expected to face. For Indiana, the question is no longer just whether the roster is improved enough to hang in the standings. It is whether a playoff path that once looked manageable now demands far more consistency than fans might have anticipated. [Read more 🡒]
Cavs Face An Early Mario Hezonja Decision That Could Matter
The Bulls may like Bennedict Mathurin, but league chatter suggests the interest has been overstated, and that matters for the Pacers because it keeps one of their young scorers in a more realistic market than some outside the league had assumed. Chicago has been focused on flexibility and future assets, which makes a sign-and-trade for Mathurin a tricky fit if it means giving up picks and locking into a long-term commitment.
Meanwhile, Mario Hezonjas new deal with the Cavaliers adds a different kind of wrinkle to the same stretch of roster planning. He signed a non-guaranteed contract that turns fully guaranteed if he stays past November 15, a deadline that could force Cleveland into an early decision while Indiana continues making the sort of smaller roster adjustments it has used since February to keep its own options open. [Read more 🡒]