LeBron James is a Philadelphia 76er, meaning that the Sixers have now added two All-Stars within just a few weeks to a team that already had Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and VJ Edgecombe. That's ignoring great value signings like Anfernee Simons and Dean Wade.
To say that the Indiana Pacers are dead in the water would be hugely hyperbolic, but it's not unfair to say that they have fallen behind.
While the conference features the defending-champion New York Knicks and the offseason champs in Philly, Indiana is relying largely on continuity as its approach to winning a title. Without a change or an acquisition, that likely won't be enough.
Tyrese Haliburton's return is the primary story of this upcoming Pacers year. After tearing his Achilles tendon in the final possible game of the 2024-25 season, Haliburton's absence for all of last year meant that Indiana could not build off their momentum from a Finals appearance.
Unfortunately, Haliburton and this Pacers squad may have just seen the "open" East become a very closed two-team race.
It's not impossible to win in an era when you are not the best team by simply outlasting all other options, something past teams have pulled off, albeit rarely.
However, there's far less optimism left for a year that initially felt like it would be wonderful. After all, anything would be better than the 17-win season we just watched.
That's a sad realization after an offseason that seemed to be drenched in positivity.
Can the Pacers keep up?
The primary question remaining for the Sixers is whether they actually have a top-10 player on their roster. Typically, title-winning teams have at least one of those. Was LeBron James that last year? Probably not. Was Jaylen Brown? If MVP votes count, then yes, but otherwise, probably not.
What the Sixers do now have is upside. If James can somehow maximize a roster of mismatched, high-level talent, and Jaylen Brown can be more than an innings eater, and if Joel Embiid can play more than 35 games, this team could be immense on both defense and offense.
While Philly can claim a high ceiling, the Knicks still remain in place with their incredibly high floor. While they lost Mitchell Robinson, they still have arguably the best wing and point guard rotations in the NBA while also sporting a transcendent offensive superstar.
Both teams will be considered as the cream of the crop. The consensus will likely keep the Pacers alongside the Boston Celtics and a (very) bullish outlook for the Atlanta Hawks.
It's hard to say that isn't a fair take.
Ultimately, the Pacers won't have the ceiling of Philly or the floor of New York. What the team needs to be instead is the best of both worlds. That means a top-two record in the East while also showing the top-gear that kept them in a series against an OKC Thunder team people were calling generational.
The margin is razor-thin, if it wasn't already before.
This is a rough way to end the offseason, but certainly not a death certificate for this era of Pacers basketball.
That's just what it is for Cleveland.
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