COVID-19 outbreak could push the Indiana Pacers to tank this season

Following another close loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Indiana Pacers are one step closer to the nadir of the Eastern Conference, with their 14-23 record bringing them to four games out of the last play-in spot as the season inches closer to its halfway point.

Things will not get any easier from this, as the Pacers face a brutal schedule for the rest of the month. To add insult to injury, the team has now fallen to the league-wide COVID-19 outbreak after being one of the few early teams to resist missing players to health and safety protocols.

With seven players now out of commission for the next week or so after entering protocols, and two others already ruled out with indefinite absences due to injury, the Blue and Gold may be forced to rewrite its trajectory this season. Sporting a bad record, there’s not much that the team can do to trump its ugly campaign and turn their season around, circumstances and all.

The Indiana Pacers may be forced to throw the white towel as COVID outbreak aggravates an ugly campaign

The ownership and the front office can flaunt their derision to rebuilding as much as they want, but the pandemic is certainly one that is totally out of their control. With most rotation players missing from the lineup, including starters Malcolm Brogdon, Caris LeVert and Chris Duarte, carving out enough wins to catch up to the clubs above them with their already-ineffective roster is asking for too much, if not the impossible.

And there’s no sign that the outbreak will be slowing down any time soon, either.

With the bulk of the fanbase collectively clamoring for the Pacers to use their failing season as a springboard to rebuild, the front office may ultimately go with the inevitable and recognize their very slim chances at threatening teams in the current campaign. Tanking is far from pretty, and it’s not guaranteed to work, but it gives a franchise a shot at an instant reboot.

One good example of this was the Toronto Raptors last season. While they were undoubtedly a playoff-caliber team, their slow start and waning viability against the East’s assemblage of powerhouses and up-and-coming teams prompted them to subtly tank last season. With some lottery luck, they were able to snag Scottie Barnes with the fourth overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, which certainly paid off as the forward is one of the most promising rookies in the league.

With all signs pointing to Indiana and its urgent need to rebuild, the COVID-19 outbreak may be eventually turn out to be a blessing in disguise, if only to serve as a wake-up call for a franchise with a seemingly distorted vision of what works and what doesn’t.

As the Indiana Pacers tread tough waters in the following weeks with the outbreak and their tough slate of games, fans may have to brace themselves for a long string of very possible losses which, in the grand scheme of things, may end up being by design, one way or the other.