The loss to the Phoenix Suns shows a clear path for the Indiana Pacers

The Pacers are bad.

I mean really bad, without Tyrese Haliburton on the court.

I’m not sure you could find a squad in the NBA that is worse than the Pacers without Haliburton on the court. The last couple of games have shown that the Pacers may not be as far along in their rebuilding process as many of us would have hoped.

And nobody should blame us. We fell in love with a team that was playing well and having fun. They were winning games and looked the part of a lovable longshot that could play themselves right into the playoffs. And who doesn’t like rooting for an underdog?

The problem however, is that the Pacers are no match for teams across the NBA without their best players. The last three games are proof of that.

• Destroyed by Milwaukee without Giannis.
• Destroyed by Denver without Jokic.
• Beat by Phoenix who was playing with mostly 2nd string players.

The Pacers have been playing so poorly, I’m unsure there is a team at full strength that they could easily beat across the NBA.

Now this isn’t all their fault. Many of the players are young, in need of experience, and prone to make the mistakes that all young players are bound to make. But what this does show the Pacers is that there is a clear path forward.

The path forward for the Pacers is to continue building and move off of veteran contracts.

The Pacers need to work to build through the draft this upcoming summer and try and lean away from pushing too hard for the playoffs. Pushing for the playoffs and signing veteran players at this point would just be a surefire way to end up in the middle of the eastern conference for the next decade. And not only that, may be a surefire way to lose our newfound superstar because we are unable to compete for championships.

Yes, the Pacers lost to the Suns without their best player. And yes, when Haliburton returns these are all winnable games again. But the real learning? The Pacers are much further from being competitive in the NBA than we had realized and failure to realize this now could have lasting consequences.