Best case scenario for the Indiana Pacers this season

The Indiana Pacers could fare well in the regular season

NBA seasons have gotten a bit more difficult to predict in recent years with players taking extra time off to rest. As an advocate of players staying healthy for the playoffs, I have no issues with some rest nights but that does throw a wrench in the way-too-early predictions process.

From the jump, January looks to be a rough stretch for the Pacers as they square off with several of the NBA’s top rosters. The Suns, Lakers, and Nets are just a few of the January matchups that will test the Indiana Pacers during the month.

Still, for every challenging month, there will be a more relaxed few weeks where they can make up any lost ground. With a strong starting lineup and a few key depth pieces, the Pacers will certainly hold their own as long as they stay healthy.

Given that this is a best-case scenario outlook, let’s assume the Pacers stay mostly healthy and get output from all of their rotational players. T.J. Warren, Domantas Sabonis, and Myles Turner all staying on the floor will give Indiana everything they were missing a year ago, a season that saw them barely miss the playoffs.

Warren is a candidate to be the team’s leading scorer so getting him back will make Indiana a much more consistent unit on offense who now has a solid three-level scorer to shake things up.

With a new-look lineup that hasn’t really played together since Caris LeVert joined, the Pacers will turn things around and get back to where they belong in the Eastern Conference. I doubt they will be enough to challenge the top teams in the East but they certainly have what it takes to be a playoff team in the East.

Best-case scenario: Indiana Pacers finish the regular season with a 49-33 record, 5th in the East.