No one is reckoning the Indiana Pacers as a legitimate threat for the title this season. In fact, the team may not even get into the nadir of the race as they are currently stuck at 12th place in the Eastern Conference and are more likely to land in the upper shelf of the lottery as things currently stand.
Fortunately, the only way for this Pacers team is up. With the franchise having one of the clearer and brighter futures in the East, it will come to no one’s surprise if they eventually unseat some of the teams currently ahead of them in the standings. In fact, they are definitely capable of leapfrogging these three teams next season.
The Indiana Pacers can surpass these Eastern Conference teams next season
1. Miami Heat
Every year, the Miami Heat are like Pandora’s box — you never know what you’ll get until they just kick the tires. However, despite making the Conference Finals in two of the last three seasons, it feels like their championship window is starting to abbreviate with them projected to have a rather middling finish this season by their standards.
Miami was the last team Indiana faced in the playoffs. While the Heat swept them back then, the Pacers should have a lot of chances to avenge their longtime dolor against the former.
The Pacers are arguably set up much better for the future as currently constructed. Miami will always be the more attractive market, but Indiana has ample draft capital, substantial cap space, and top-to-bottom potential that cannot be matched by the Heat, especially as they nurse a bevy of overpaid players on their roster.
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.
The Atlanta Hawks are big flunkers whereas the Indiana Pacers are fast risers
The Atlanta Hawks inching to an NBA Finals berth in 2021 suddenly seems like a memoir from a previous decade. With how the mediocre they have been in the last two years, fans might as well consider that 2021 run as a complete outlier.
Despite adding All-Star guard Dejounte Murray to the team, Trae Young and co. have yet to firmly establish themselves in the East as even tough outs in the first-round. Right now, they are sitting at eighth place, barely scraping by to remain the playoff hunt.
With Atlanta having mortgaged their immediate future to San Antonio in the Murray trade, being rumored to consider trading Young in the offseason, and still housing John Collins on the roster, the Hawks have no easy fix awaiting them even if they flip the switch. They have not proven that they are more than just a paper tiger. Eventually, the Indiana Pacers should be able to usurp them next season as they get wiser with a steadier captain stirring the wheel in Tyrese Haliburton.