The Indiana Pacers have just acquired their fifth National TV game of the year, as reported by the NBA. Indiana's February 28th matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans, their first of two matchups against New Orleans in three days, has just been moved to the national ESPN broadcast as a replacement for Minnesota vs. Memphis, which was perhaps pulled due to the plethora of injuries the Grizzlies have suffered this year.
For a team that entered the season with only one nationally broadcast game on their schedule, the January 30 affair against the Boston Celtics, the Pacers have surprisingly squeezed three more National TV games out of their season.
All three have come from the In-Season Tournament as Indiana beat the Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks en route to the finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, which they unfortunately lost. Still, the sheer magnitude of a team like the Pacers having five national TV games when they usually struggled for even one game was quite important.
In recent years, the Pacers have built a reputation as a 'League Pass Team,' which is to say they were only widely available to residents outside of Indiana if they acquired the NBA League Pass.
The addition of Tyrese Haliburton has seemingly changed that; however, the Pacers have enjoyed the most media attention they've gotten in years over the past few months. He's been playing at an extremely high level, and with all of the love he's received, NBA fans are now tuning in just for him.
Perhaps this new ESPN game is just the start of plenty more things to come, and Indiana can get some more big games added to their belt as Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, and company help give the basketball state the most media attention they've enjoyed since the Paul George and company vs. Miami Heat days.