Three things in life are certain; death, taxes, and Vegas disrespecting the Pacers.
Yes, once again, it seems like the genius oddsmakers have not yet learned their lesson from what happened last season. After setting the Pacers' over/under for the 2023-24 season at 39.5 wins, and watching that number get smashed as Indiana won 47 games and made the playoffs, the lovely folks at Vegas have released their most recent over/under win total projections as of July 14 2024.
Now, before I tell you what the Pacers' new odds are, let me ask you something. Do you think a young team that struggled beating worse teams and had their best player either injured or severely limited for half a season would get better or worse the following year? I'll give you some time to think about it.
If you answered that Indiana would get worse, then congratulations, you and Vegas have something in common. Despite winning 47 games the prior season amid injuries, inconsistency, and problems against bad teams, the Pacers over/under for the following season has been set at 45.5, a number that projects them to have the seventh-best record in the East, behind teams like the Magic and Cavaliers.
Pacers over/under win projection is set at 45.5 by Vegas
While it is true that other teams in the East got better in the offseason while Indiana stayed put, the Pacers should still be well off next season due to Tyrese Haliburton recovering from his hamstring injury, Pascal Siakam getting a full training camp with the team, the youngsters learning from their recent playoff experience, and guys like Jarace Walker getting introduced to the rotation to help with defensive issues. A team that won 47 games with sizeable room for improvement should not be projected to get worse after keeping all of their rotation pieces.
Now is the time to remind you to take these with a grain of salt. While it is easy to laugh or get offended at these predictions, the sports book's job is not to try and predict anything well. Their main focus is to make money, so they will be naturally more conservative on win totals because fans will bet on the easier options.
That being said, it is quite funny how the Pacers can do anything and still get disrespected by betters and the media. This should only put a bigger chip on everyone's shoulder and give them more of a reason to prove everyone wrong as if there weren't already plenty of reasons to do so in the first place.
It is pretty safe to say, that if everyone remains healthy, and Tyrese Haliburton is back to his old form, the Pacers can easily eclipse 50 wins, and from there, the sky is the limit just like it was this past season.