NBA 2K announced on Sunday that the 2013-14 Indiana Pacers would be included in the upcoming NBA 2K18 as one of 16 classic teams.
It seems like we’re learning a little bit more about NBA 2K18 every day, and Sunday was no exception. This news byte is especially germane for Pacers fans, as the video game company announced that the 2013-14 Pacers team would be included in the game as a Classic Team.
The addition of 16 Classic Teams is just one of the many new features that this year’s edition of the popular video game will include. Other teams that have been announced are the ’02 Sacramento Kings featuring Chris Webber, the 73-win Golden State Warriors and the ’11 Chicago Bulls (the year Derrick Rose won MVP).
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There are also some questionable inclusions like the ’04 Los Angeles Lakers (we’re going to pick the Lakers team two years removed from the three-peat?) and the ’06 Memphis Grizzlies.
The 2013-14 Pacers won 56 games and finished first in the Central Division. They made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals before falling to their nemesis, the LeBron James-led Miami heat, in six games.
This was the year Paul George firmly cemented himself as a two-way star in the NBA, surpassing the 20 points-per-game threshold for the first time over a whole regular season. For the George Hill – Lance Stephenson – Paul George – Roy Hibbert core, this season was inarguably the mountaintop, unless you count just the first half of the next season.
These Pacers were an awesome team, but I’m not sure how fun they’ll be to play with on NBA 2K18. They were definitely a defensive-minded team, coming in first in Defensive Rating with 99.8 (unheard of even three seasons later) and 20th in Offensive Rating with 104.3. Unless your favorite part of 2k is tagging the roll man and making sure your weak side “I” is tight, this might not be the team for you.
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Regardless of their aesthetics, it’s cool to see that team being included in something like this.