3 Eastern Conference teams the Indiana Pacers can leapfrog next season

The Pacers will surely be better than the Brooklyn Nets next season

Speaking of teams that can soon be caught in the void of the unknown, the Brooklyn Nets will almost assuredly be worse than the Indiana Pacers next season. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving’s trades out of town are obviously the biggest reasons why, but it’s actually more than that.

Brooklyn’s crest of draft picks moving forward is far from awe-inspiring quality-wise. And while they can easily fetch more by making Mikal Bridges and Nic Claxton available for plucking, the Nets brass hasn’t made any indications that they will be amenable to pulling the strings. If so, their team will likely remain stuck in the middle for years to come, especially with their market appeal currently overshadowed by their front office slips.

No offense to Bridges and Claxton, whose ceilings are lofty enough to remain optimistic, but Brooklyn is an easy pick for the odd man out next season among the teams currently in the playoff picture in the East. That’s one less team for the Pacers to worry about in the following campaign.