Now what?
The Pacers move on after an epic 2024-25 season with some different faces in new roles and plenty of room for continued growth.
“A lot of people don’t believe we can do too much this year. So for us to live in that space is pretty nice. We’ve been living in that space for the last four years.” - Aaron Nesmith
Ready or not it is time to move on.
Regardless of how heartbreaking it was to see the air let out of the Pacers championship hopes in the second half of Game 7, the 2024-25 season will remain special on so many levels for so many years to come. Without a doubt, the easiest team to root for delivered the most entertaining style of play Pacers fans have ever enjoyed.
Regardless of the matchups on paper, when it came to utilizing their depth to deliver big time effort and execution, the Pacers were up to the task as the stakes continued to rise. Tyrese Haliburton delivered a Hall of Fame career’s worth of game deciding buckets four times in the playoffs which raised the team’s Q rating high enough that casual NBA fans knew all about this impressive team.
In fact, there were some casual observers who actually thought the Pacers won the championship, which would make sense considering all of the elite level highlights they delivered for wins throughout the postseason.
On the Green Light podcast (43ish minute mark), Rick Carlisle relayed a story from a visit to his alma mater at the University of Virginia, where at a fast-food drink station, someone told him he looked like Rick Carlisle. Carlisle said he gets that a lot and then the guy went on to say Carlisle is probably feeling good now because the Pacers won the championship!
I listened to this while driving home from a vacation to a South Carolina barrier island this summer. Had to laugh, because one day on the beach a few days earlier, I was wearing a tie dye Bill Walton UCLA shirt. A guy who was a few more bevs into his day than I was approached to share his love for Bill Walton and how a guy he knows works in the NBA office in New York and had incredible interactions with Walton. No surprise.
He said he was a Celtics fan, although it turns out didn’t pay real close attention to the league after the C’s were eliminated. I told him I went to the NBA Finals and he said, “Oh, yeah, the Pacers won the championship.”
Hmm, so there’s two people that think the Pacers won. Could there be more?
Those tiny sample size interactions just further confirm how impactful the Pacers run through the playoffs and how they lit up the postseason with supercharged highlights and big wins along the way was perceived by the general public.
What a pleasure.
So now the Pacers move on with minimal expectations outside the 317 after losing Haliburton to injury and Myles Turner in free agency. But they do have six of the top eight rotation players who went to the Eastern Conference Finals two years ago and the NBA Finals last year. Haliburton was incredible in the last five seconds, but others helped deliver big moments and big wins along the way.
Also, there are several young players, namely Bennedict Mathurin, Ben Sheppard, Jarace Walker, Isaiah Jackson and Johnny Furphy who played minor roles but also went through the full process of preparation for all of those high stakes games. Now they have a chance to make a bigger impact. If one or two or all can do so, the Pacers might just stun the NBA national media and casual fans once again.
Preseason games tip off on Tuesday in Minnesota which I would assume will have all of the healthy players in the main rotation seeing some time as they adjust to some different roles. During the Fan Jam on Sunday, the Pacers started with Mathurin and IJax in the starting lineup. Shep was out with injury so Johnny Furphy was in the second group with Jarace Walker. Jay Huff and James Wiseman appear to be working toward the backup center role while IJax tries to maintain his starting spot.
That’s the intrigue of this season: who will emerge to deliver a consistent level of play that lives up to the standard this Pacers team has set for effort and execution that other teams struggle to match.
Preseason: Pacers vs. Timberwolves
Where: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
When: Tuesday, October 7, 2025 - 8:00 p.m. ET
TV: FanDuel Sports Network
Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan
Odds: Pacers +7
Projected Starters
Pacers: Andrew Nembhard, Bennedict Mathurin, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, Isaiah Jackson
Timberwolves: Anthony Edwards, Donte DiVincenzo, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert
Injuries
Pacers: Full roster (rest) - questionable, Ben Sheppard (undisclosed) - questionable, Kam Jones (back) - out
Timberwolves: Anthony Edwards (rest) - questionable, Mike Conley (rest) - questionable, Julius Randle (rest) - questionable, Leonard Miller (finger) - out laceration)