The Knicks enter the new season with something a lot of contenders would envy: continuity. The 2026 NBA champions are bringing back most of the roster that got them there, and even with Mitchell Robinson gone to the Boston Celtics, they still look far more settled than a lot of the East’s reshuffled challengers.
That stability is exactly why New York can’t treat the regular season like a formality. Indiana may not look like the biggest obstacle on paper, but the Pacers are a reminder that the same thing powering the Knicks can also make a dangerous opponent.
The Pacers added only Kelly Oubre Jr. after finishing 19-63 last season, yet the return of Tyrese Haliburton gives them something much bigger than a typical offseason splash. It’s a superstar addition in its own right, and it comes with the kind of continuity New York is banking on too.
Indiana also has the pieces to matter. Haliburton is one of the 10 best players in the league, Pascal Siakam is one of the 20 best, and Rick Carlisle gives the group a proven coach who leans into what his roster does best. Around that duo, the Pacers have depth in the starting group and off the bench, and they’ve already shown they can replace Myles Turner and stay built for a deep run.
The standings may be the real issue. The Eastern Conference was already the stronger side of the league, and with LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard projected to hop on over next year, the gap is expected to widen even more. If the top teams hold, several clubs including the Pacers, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards, and Atlanta Hawks could end up on the outside looking in.
That makes the regular season even more important for New York. The Knicks are trying to secure homecourt advantage again, and they’ll have to do it in a league where roster construction has shifted in all kinds of directions.
Detroit added shooting but gave up already-scarce scoring. Boston lost Jaylen Brown, got Paul George in return, and added Robinson.
Brooklyn, with the flattened lottery odds, is among the young teams now looking for veterans to bring some structure and talent.
New York also made its own tradeoff, replacing Robinson’s offensive rebounding and defensive impact with Drummond’s offensive rebounding. The hope is that it holds up in a league where only one team, the Denver Nuggets, is projected to enter next season over the second apron.
Indiana’s path looks different from the title-holding Knicks and the Oklahoma City Thunder, who just traded Aaron Wiggins, Isaiah Joe, and Lu Dort to Eastern Conference teams to reduce their tax bill. The Pacers are not leaning on championship residue. They’re leaning on continuity to turn chemistry into wins.
And the biggest question hanging over them is obvious. The Pacers nearly won the 2025 title over the Thunder, but Tyrese Haliburton suffered an Achilles injury early in Game 7.
Now that they’ve re-tooled, can he look like himself again? That matters more than anything else, even more than bench strength.
The move that sent a pick to the Los Angeles Clippers and ended up conveying as the draft’s 5th overall selection bought Indiana time to fit Zubac into the system and get him ready to work as Haliburton’s roll-man. Yaxel Lendeborg would have been an incredible fit, but the larger question is which center works best next to Haliburton and Siakam in Carlisle’s offense.
If Haliburton returns looking like his 2024 self, Indiana has a real chance to make noise in the East. If the bench takes another step, with internal growth from a player like Jarace Walker helping the cause, the Pacers could push all the way into contender territory.
The Knicks may not be as vulnerable to Indiana’s style as some other teams, especially with a coach who just won a championship by being willing to drop everything he thought he knew if the first plan wasn’t working. But Haliburton is exactly the kind of sharp, cerebral guard who has helped define recent title runs, the same way Jalen Brunson and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did over the last two seasons.
New York earned its place as the hunted with a historic playoff run. Still, Indiana is not the kind of team that will quietly disappear in a crowded Eastern Conference.
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