The Indiana Pacers finished the 2025-26 season with a 19-63 record. They were one of the worst teams in the NBA in every area of the game. And even under the circumstances of Tyrese Haliburton's injury and Myles Turner's offseason departure, they were very disappointing.
However, in many ways, their "gap year" was also a big success. And in a recent episode of the "Locked On Pacers" podcast, Tony East explained why, citing the developments of Jarace Walker and Andrew Nembhard, as well as the team discovering they needed to trade for a center this season.
"Let's pretend Jarace continues to grow from his last 41 or whatever games of this season next year and is a real good bench player, people will remember that he got unconditional huge minutes to improve this year," East said.
"Being smart and opportunistic about your financial situation and noticing you can trade these two players for Ivica Zubac now... especially if they keep the pick, that will look smart. That bold trade will look smart. If Andrew Nembhard is truly a helpful starting 2, backup 1, that will look smart. ... There's a lot of ifs in that, certainly, but those are things that could make this season look back like, 'Thank goodness that happened.'"
The Pacers' gap year wasn't as bad as it seemed
When Haliburton went down, everybody knew Indiana would take a step back in the standings, and it did (which is probably a massive understatement). But because of that, the expectation was that this past season was all about experimentation and development for their players, and that's what they got for the most part.
Nembhard had a stellar season as the Pacers' primary point guard for a year, averaging 16.9 points and 7.7 assists (both career-highs). Walker had a slow start but greatly turned things around in the second half of the season and proved he can be a legitimate contributor in Indiana for the long haul (he averaged 13.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1 steal and shot 42.4% from deep in his last 46 games). And players like Johnny Furphy (before he tore his ACL), Jay Huff, Ben Sheppard, and Micah Potter all showed flashes at times.
Additionally, Pascal Siakam reminded everybody how great he can still be, becoming a four-time All-Star as the Pacers' top guy. And the team finally signed Quenton Jackson to a standard contract in the midst of a solid season.
Plus, on top of all of that, they now might have an opportunity to draft a real game-changer this year in AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, or Caleb Wilson, which will help them redefine the Haliburton era.
Indiana found a lot of answers to questions it needed to solve. And for one reason or another, all of that will help the team become even stronger next season and beyond as they look to finish what they started last year and win it all.
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