The Indiana Pacers are back in action on Tuesday evening against the Oklahoma City Thunder. While this isn't an old rivalry, it's a budding new one, with the Indiana Pacers falling short to the Thunder in the Finals two years ago.
However, the team that played against the Thunder last year in their two standard matchups was not the one that the Pacers fielded in that series. As we all know, Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles tendon during Game 7 of the Finals, but other cornerstones of that roster have also been moved.
Bennedict Mathurin was traded as part of the deal for Ivica Zubac and is now a New Orleans Pelican. Lu Dort, a massive part of the Thunder's rebuilding era, is also now an Atlanta Hawk. These are teams that know each other in theory more than they do in practice.
However, the Thunder don't have the same animosity towards the Pacers that the Pacers do towards their Oklahoman opponents. After all, the Thunder won.
Even if it is just a preseason game, getting a win over a team that represents all of the difficulty in this era of Pacers basketball would be a wonderful thing to see.
Two years after the Finals, these rosters are opposites
Ever since their Finals matchup, the Thunder and Pacers have gone in vastly different directions. The Pacers took a year off from winning basketball, seeing their roster depleted by injuries before they swung a deal for the aforementioned Zubac. The Thunder, for their part, are featuring many of the same players that they did last year when they lost to the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals, losing their chance at a repeat.
Even now, their strategies towards building a team could not be more oppositional. The Pacers included their first-round pick from their rebuilding year as part of the deal for Zubac. In doing so, they lost their chance at supplemental young talent to extend the lifespan of this core's contending window.
The Thunder, on the other side of things, have enough pics that they can spend two mid first-rounders on Michigan Center Aday Mara and rookie point guard Bennett Stirtz to add in even more young and cheap talent as their older veterans phase out.
The Thunder are built through the draft. The Pacers are built through trades. So far, only one team has won a title with its core.
Even then, Indiana probably has the better starting lineup right now. Trades have netted them All-Stars like Pascal Siakam, Tyrese Haliburton, and Zubac at a minimal price. However, the difference pops up in the form of depth
That depth will be on display during this game, and Indiana will hope to see a continued breakout from Jarace Walker that would signal that their depth is not as bad as it has initially seemed.
Both OKC and Indiana will hope to be championship contenders this year. Maybe we will even see a rematch of that fateful Finals series.
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