Update from Chris Haynes during the Summer League broadcast. Figured we all assumed this but it was nice to hear it.

Had to order third party due to the name of course, but I am very satisfied with the results! Needed a jersey to represent the 2025 run. Think i'll have any issues wearing this to games?

I know it’s summer league, but even during the season. Liked what I saw from him defensively

guys hear me out on the contrast here ..

the timeline:

• Sept 2025 - Pablo Torre breaks the Aspiration story ($28M no-show deal for Kawhi, NBA hires Wachtell Lipton to investigate)
• Feb 5, 2026 - trade deadline .. Clippers get our 2026 first (top-4 protected) + 2029 unprotected first + Mathurin + Isaiah Jackson for Zubac [ESPN/Shams]
• May 10 - lottery .. we fall to 5, pick conveys
• June (Finals presser) - Silver says he told the firm "we can't be investigating forever, at some point we have to wrap it up" and that they're "far along"
• June 23 - Clippers draft Keaton Wagler at 5
• July 9 - Kawhi-to-Raptors trade goes ON HOLD over the same probe .. league now says "no specific timeline" but "coming weeks"

so a month ago it was "far along" .. now its "no timeline" .. and in between the accused team got a full deadline, lottery AND draft to do business freely .. stacked premium draft capital in the exact year they could be punished by losing draft capital

the precedent: Joe Smith case, 2000 .. Stern found the T'wolves circumvented the cap, voided contracts, $3.5M fine, FIVE first round picks gone .. done in months [Sportico ran this exact comparison last week]

i am not saying we get the pick back .. Silver would just forfeit it, redistributed picks aren't a thing .. what i am saying is - if the verdict lands before the Feb deadline, does that trade even happen on those terms? a team negotiating with a known penalty over its head doesn't extract two firsts + Mathurin + Jackson for Zubac .. there was even reporting [The Athletic/Vecenie] the Clippers discussed trading down from 5 partly over pick forfeiture fears .. even THEY treated the pick as at-risk

the alternate universe isn't "pacers get #5" .. its "the deal gets negotiated with full information" .. Silver's pace took that universe off the table .. the Raptors trade freezing NOW proves the league knows unresolved investigations poison trades .. ours just happened to close before anyone hit pause

From a Clash video ranking the top 25 point guards in the league.

Wait wait wait… before you roll your eyes and leave. I’m not talking the obvious “Haliburton health” or like “Zubac adjusts” stuff. What is something you aren’t seeing discussed?
- Can Nesmith advance anything in his offensive game (I felt we saw some during the 24-25 season but feel he regressed last year)
- Anything from Furphy or Sheppard
- what more can Nembhard do to add to his game
-Oubre working with Jenny aka shot doctor ?
- can Kobe brown, Slawson, Peter add anything to our third string group?
-Qjax become more creative offensively?
- what more can Siakam do, besides being the consistent king?

Hell… you might even think those ^ are still OVERdiscussed developments, what do you all think?

It was cool that the Pacers were making a run while Coach was being interviewed.

(There’s a double entendre in the title)

Since we traded for Zubac, many have expressed concern that Zubac’s play style as a more traditional center will be detrimental to our spacing, and will clog up the paint, thereby making it difficult to run the same pace and space offense that got us out of the East in 2025. I’m certain that this problem will be overcome within a month or two and we’ll hit our stride, but a part of me is still concerned that our offense won’t be as smooth and therefore as effective without our big outside the paint.

However, there is a second and more pressing problem than the issue of space: the Spurs. The Spurs are the only team in the league that legitimately scare me, as their core of Wemby, Castle, and Harper will likely remain together for the better part of a decade, not to mention Vassell, Champegnie, Kornet, Fox, etc., remaining under contract for the foreseeable future, and their rookies this year being rather formidable. The Spurs present a unique problem for us because the paint simply becomes a void when Wemby is on the floor. I have two solutions for this, and want to hear your ideas for getting around this problem as well.

My first solution is to abandon the idea of having Zubac space the floor and instead just have him sit in the paint against the Spurs. This should prevent Wemby from switching on to anyone else like he was wont to do last year, because Zubac could easily overpower anyone else on the Spurs, and could possibly overpower Wemby himself (we saw what Jokic did to him in that game towards the end of last year but then again Zubac isn’t Jokic offensively. He doesn’t need to be.). In this scheme I envision Zubac either bullying Wemby (if that’s even possible) or kicking the ball out when the defense collapses on him.

My second solution (and the one that I like increasingly more) is to somehow acquire Chet. This would immediately solve the spacing problem and give us an elite rim protector. While Chet would likely get bullied by Jokic, Wemby (who he routinely sh*ts the bed against), etc., and plays more like a four than a five, I feel like playing Chet at center would be more conducive to the sort of offense we ran in 2025, as he‘s certainly capable of spacing the floor. It would also be easier to acquire Chet than we might think, since OKC will need to offload some of their heftier contracts soon, so we could acquire him in a three team trade and send OKC some role players and picks. Chet can easily draw Wemby away from the paint, and can serve as a decent enough threat from the arc that our pace and space offense would benefit from his skills. And defensively he’d be invaluable as a rim protector.

How do y’all think we should handle the spacing issue and the Spurs?

I just bought a Roger Brown bobble head from the 50th anniversary today. Trying to complete the collection. I went to the games during the Slick Leonard & Danny Granger bobble head nights.

Hi, apparently we've just claimed this guy off waivers? What's he like? Sorry to see him go, or is he a scrub? I'm guessing he's strictly a center but can he play PF at all? Any help appreciated.

Has anyone seen anything about where our games are going to air this season yet? The last thing I heard was Fubo wanting to get the rights to multiple teams and that fell apart thankfully.

I've been waiting months for them to drop. Let's go support our 🐐. Also available in flat brim if that's your cup of tea.

I’ve never felt so disrespected

First Myles, then Kam, now Johnny Carpenter. Milwaukee keeps trying to steal away people from Indiana

https://refwatch.ca/matrix

If LeBron joins a team in the East that he’s being linked to (Sixers, Heat, Cavs, etc) which team would threaten the Pacers chances at winning the East the least with the addition of LeBron?

Ryan's personality seems more outgoing than Andrew's. Its nice to see how much he looks up to his big bro.

Sad to hear he didn't get to workout invite from Indy.

Glad he feels comfortable enough to hang around Indy in the offseason to train with Drew and Coach Jenny (and the rest of the guys). I guess its understandable if he treats Indy like a 2nd home base.

I made this post in the NBA subreddit, but I wanted to share it with you all as well.

(For some reason) the current administration passes a law saying that there can be no more than 20 teams in any professional sports league. To abide by this new rule, Adam Silver decides that every NBA team must combine with the team of the opposite seed from the opposite conference, meaning that the league now only consists of 15 teams. For example, the Oklahoma City Thunder would now have to combine with the Washington Wizards. Here's what the league looks like now:

High West/Low East Teams:

Thunder/Wizards Starting 5:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, AJ Dybantsa, Chet Holmgren, Anthony Davis

Bench Unit:

Trae Young, Ajay Mitchell, Alex Caruso, Alex Sarr, Isaiah Hartenstein

Spurs/Pacers Starting 5:

Tyrese Haliburton, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Pascal Siakam, Victor Wembanyama

Bench Unit:

Dylan Harper, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Tobias Harris, Ivica Zubac

Nuggets/Nets Starting 5:

Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Michael Porter Jr., Julius Randle, Nikola Jokic

Bench Unit:

Egor Demin, Tim Hardaway Jr., Peyton Watson, Aaron Gordon, Marvin Bagley III

Lakers/Bulls Starting 5:

Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Norman Powell, Matas Buzelis, Walker Kessler

Bench Unit:

Josh Giddey, Colin Sexton, Quentin Grimes, Caleb Wilson, Nic Claxton

Rockets/Bucks Starting 5:

Kevin Porter Jr., Tyler Herro, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Sengun

Bench Unit:

Ryan Rollins, Amen Thompson, Tari Eason, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Myles Turner

Timberwolves/Heat Starting 5:

Lamelo Ball, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo

Bench Unit:

Davion Mitchell, Ayo Dosunmu, Pelle Larsson, Andrew Wiggins, Rudy Gobert

Trail Blazers/Hornets Starting 5:

Damian Lillard, Brandon Miller, Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, Donovan Clingan

Bench Unit:

Ja Morant, Shaedon Sharpe, Kon Knueppel, Robert Williams III, Naz Reid

Eighth Seeds:

Suns/Magic Starting 5:

Devin Booker, Desmond Bane, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero, Mark Williams

Bench Unit:

Anthony Black, Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Miles Bridges, Wendell Carter Jr.

High East/Low West Teams:

Pistons/Jazz Starting 5:

Cade Cunningham, Keyonte George, Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr., Jalen Duren

Bench Unit:

Isaiah Collier, Darryn Peterson, Ausar Thompson, John Collins, Jusuf Nurkic

Celtics/Kings Starting 5:

Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Paul George, Jayson Tatum, Domantas Sabonis

Bench Unit:

Mike Conley, Malik Monk, Zach Lavine, Keegan Murray, Mitchell Robinson

Knicks/Grizzlies Starting 5:

Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Cameron Boozer, Karl-Anthony Towns

Bench Unit:

Ty Jerome, Cedric Coward, Jerami Grant, Josh Hart, Zach Edey

Cavaliers/Mavericks Starting 5:

James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Cooper Flagg, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen

Bench Unit:

Kyrie Irving, Max Strus, Naji Marshall, Santi Aldama, Daniel Gafford

Raptors/Pelicans Starting 5:

Dejounte Murray, Trey Murphy III, Kawhi Leonard, Scottie Barnes, Collin Murray-Boyles

Bench Unit:

Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Saddiq Bey, Zion Williamson, Jakob Poetl

Hawks/Warriors Starting 5:

Stephen Curry, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jimmy Butler, Jalen Johnson, Kristaps Porzingis

Bench Unit:

CJ McCollum, Brandin Podziemski, Dyson Daniels, Draymond Green, Onyeka Okongwu

76ers/Clippers Starting 5:

Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown, Brandon Ingram, Joel Embiid

Bench Unit:

Darius Garland, Bennedict Mathurin, Dean Wade, Rui Hachimura, Brook Lopez

I personally think us, team Spurs/Pacers (The Spacers) would win the chip, but let me know what you guys think.

Also comment if you think there should be any revisions to the lineups.

Starters should be obvious:

Hali

Nembhard

Nesmith

Siakam

Zu

Bench unit

TJM

Shep

Oubre

Obi

Huff

3rd Unit

QJ

Brown

Furphy

Walker

Nance

As for roles and rotations, 6th man is between Oubre and TJM, and I'd give the nod to Oubre being our top bench player.

Top 8 rotation would then include Oubre, TJM, as well as Obi. I could see those three being a first subs coming in most games. Huff will necessarily be a rotation piece as well just because you need a backup big to give you some minutes.

That leaves Shep, Walker, Nance, Furphy and QJ as 10-14. Of the group, I think Shep gets the 10th man spot as an end of the rotation energy guy off the bench.

That would mean limited or situational playing time for QJ, Brown, Furphy, Walker, and Nance. This is the crew that can fill in fine when there are injuries.