3 Indiana Pacers who definitely won't be back next season

The Indiana Pacers exceeded expectations this year. No one expected them to be in the Eastern Conference Finals. Yet, they got there to cap off a great year that was ahead of schedule. They did this after making the In-Season Tournament Finals as well.

Indiana has done an excellent job getting ahead of their rebuild schedule. They were expected to make the playoffs this year, but no one expected them to be one of the final four teams left standing. They really made a big leap for how young they are, and that will help them in future seasons.

Now, hard decisions have to be made. It's going to be a really tough offseason for the Pacers. They have a lot of tough decisions to make with their finances that are all complicated by the fact that Tyrese Haliburton has his supermax extension kicking in next season.

Because of that, the Pacers are going to have to let some really good players go in free agency. They're over the cap as it is and they're going to give a max contract to Pascal Siakam. With that, we give you a list of three players who definitely won't be back next season, starting with a key bench guy.

1. Obi Toppin

Obi Toppin was brought into Indiana for almost no cost. They traded a second-round pick to the Knicks for him. He started for the first half of the season before Siakam was brought in. When he was moved to the bench, he became one of the most effective bench scorers in the league.

Toppin averaged 10.3 points on 57% shooting, including 40% from three. He also had 3.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 0.6 steals. All of those numbers are career highs for him. In the playoffs, he scored 10.9 points per game on 54% shooting and shot 36% from three.

It's hard for a player to be as effective as Toppin was on offense and not be brought back. The issue is his defense. He's such a bad defender. There were so many times in the playoffs that he would just turn his head and let his guy go by him for a back-door cut that led to a bucket.

Toppin is a free agent this Summer and he's looking to get paid. He has a $20 million cap hold right now. The Pacers certainly wouldn't sign him to a number that large, but no one likely will. Still, he's going to want more money than the Pacers are going to be willing to offer him.

Indiana also already has his replacement. They drafted Jarace Walker in the first round last year and he's going to need to get some playing time. His defensive ceiling is also much higher than Toppin's, and he's a cheaper option. Toppin will likely head elsewhere after an incredibly productive season with Indiana.

The next player on this list hardly played for the Pacers at all this season.