The Indiana Pacers began the season 2-15 and shared the worst record in the NBA with the Washington Wizards. They looked like a shell of themselves on both sides of the floor, and they had dealt with injuries to key players like Andrew Nembhard, Bennedict Mathurin, and Obi Toppin (and obviously Tyrese Haliburton, who is going to miss the entire season with an Achilles injury).
Given that they were just one win away from an NBA championship earlier in the year, this would normally be bad news. But not necessarily for the Pacers.
They're without their star player (who should be back next season), and a down year was always expected anyway. But being near the bottom of the league standings? Nobody anticipated that, but that might not have been the worst thing in the world. They may have an opportunity to land a top pick in the stacked 2026 NBA Draft, all while essentially having their entire NBA Finals roster (minus Myles Turner) back on the court next season.
However, the Pacers have proven one thing in their recent games that fans should have known all along: they are way too good to tank, even without their star player.
The Pacers are turning things around
After an abysmal start to the season, Indiana has won four of its last six games. And with a 6-18 record, they own the second-worst record in the East, but they are just 3.5 games behind the No. 10 seed Milwaukee Bucks.
Furthermore, while they're not quite at the level they were at last season, the Pacers are starting to look more like their true selves.
In their last five games, they are 115.6 points (15th-best in the NBA), 7.2 blocks (second-best), and 13.4 turnovers (13th-best), while shooting 48.6% from the field (10th-best) and 39.3% from deep (seventh-best), per NBA.com.
The Pacers may not be legitimate title contenders this season (though they've exceeded expectations many times before, and they could be in line to continue doing so once again), but they're at least proving that they're not bad enough to stay near the bottom of the NBA standings.
They are getting healthier, players are beginning to look more comfortable in their new roles, and head coach Rick Carlisle is continuing to do a good job of setting his players up for success as much as possible. It remains to be seen what their exact ceiling is, but the Pacers are making it clear that, at least talent-wise, they're closer to a postseason team than they are to a tanking team.