As they inch closer to the playoffs, the Indiana Pacers will look to make a late-season push to secure home-court advantage. Currently, they own the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference but are just 0.5 games behind the Milwaukee Bucks for the No. 4 seed. If they can climb up the standings once again, the Pacers would have home-court advantage in the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
Additionally, another story to monitor is how the Pacers will trim their rotation. Teams often opt for a shorter rotation in the playoffs to ensure that their top players play as much as possible when the lights are at their brightest. Given how deep the Pacers are, this could be a difficult task. However, recently, one player on the team has stuck out as a candidate to see their minutes drop come playoff time.
Pacers may cut Thomas Bryant from playoff rotation
The Pacers traded for Thomas Bryant from the Miami Heat back in December. Since then, the Indiana alum has appeared in 36 games for the team, starting five of them. Overall, the acquisiton of Bryant has been a success for the Pacers. Bryant provides a lot of energy on the court and is a great backup center behind Myles Turner. Still, he is far from perfect, and that is becoming evident as the season progresses.
Arguably the biggest knock on Bryant's game during his career is that he is not a good defender, and this is proving true with the Pacers. At 6-foot-10, the New York native is a big body and is a physical presence. However, he is not much of a rim protector and has struggled on defense. Additionally, he and Ben Sheppard are the only two Pacers with a negative plus-minus over the last 10 games.
Bryant is a serviceable big man and may have a role in Indiana past this season. However, he is too much of a liability on the defensive end to regularly play him against some of the top teams in the conference. Instead, the Pacers would be better off going small and playing guys like Pascal Siakam and Obi Toppin at center when needed.
The Pacers still have roughly a month left until the end of the season, but it is not too early to think about their playoff strategies. As they look to replicate their playoff success from last season, the Pacers will look to end the season on a high note.