It’s about time this team finally pushed for a deep title run. The Indiana Pacers are at long last pushing for an NBA Finals berth once again as they made a huge, 5-piece trade to bring over Pascal Siakam from the Toronto Raptors.
It’s great to see smaller market teams make these huge moves and go for the title.
With years of losing seasons and early playoff failures, the Indiana Pacers are finally on the up once again as they are following their NBA In-Season tournament finals run with a push for the Larry O’Brien trophy as they have acquired Pascal Siakam from the Toronto Raptors. And, even though I don’t see the Pacers winning this season, they’re setting up for future success with this move.
As I said in the intro, it’s great too see a smaller market team, which the Pacers are by all basketball-fanbase measurements, make huge, bold moves for All-Star and All-NBA caliber talents for an NBA title push. And it’s especially pleasant to see the Pacers of all teams doing it.
With the Pacers being out in Indiana and really not garnering a ton of media hype or attention over the last…well, decade or more since Paul George was on the team, the team really has fallen by the wayside in both popularity and success with the Pacers currently ranked as the 27th most valuable franchise in the league (out of 30), the 22nd ranked largest-market (out of 30) in the NBA with just a 2M metro population around Indianapolis (where they play their home games), and they’ve struggled in the playoffs.
REALLY STRUGGLED.
Ever since a young PG13 took this team to the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2013/14 season (where they were beaten by LeBron James’ Miami Heat side 4-2), the Pacers have been bounced out of the first round 5 times (2015-20) and they’ve missed the playoffs entirely in the other five season since that last ECF run. And, to really top things off, the Pacers finished as the 13th worst team in the East just two seasons ago with a dreadful 25-57 record.
But, I’m more than confident to say that those days are long over now for Indiana as they not only have an All-NBA and maybe potential MVP candidate in Tyrese Haliburton leading the team from the point, but they now have just brought in one of the best power forwards in all of basketball in Pascal Siakam.
Even before I get into Siakam and the trade, the Pacers were already one of the most lethal teams in the NBA under Haliburton and their emerging center Myles Turner’s leadership.
I mean, this is the #1 scoring offense in the entire NBA (125.6 PPG), the #1 assist-generating offense (31.1 APG), the #1 most efficient FG shooting offense (50.9%), and the #1 offense in taking FG shots (47 PG), while they also outlasted the likes of the Boston Celtics (#1 seed) and the Milwaukee Bucks (#2 seed) to be the East’s representative in the Finals.
Yet, even for all of these great stats and results listed, the Pacers are only the 7th seed in the East right now as they have the single-worst defense in points against/game in the NBA (123.4 PAG), they’re the worst FG shooting efficient defense (50.3% FG shooting against), and they give up the third-most field goals/game (45.3).
So, that’s probably why they broke the bank and brought in Pascal Siakam in exchange for Bruce Brown, Kira Lewis, Jordan Nwora, 2 1st round picks in 2024, and 1 1st round pick in 2026.
Now, getting into this trade, I actually think this deal is good for both teams as the Pacers now have Siakam, who is having one of his best-ever seasons in shooting with his 22.2 PPG and 52.2% FG shooting percentage, and the Raptors, who are clearly rebuilding this team from the remnants of the 2019 championship, have three 1st round picks, a young prospect in Kira Lewis, and valuable trade bait in Bruce Brown (because Brown is too good and valuable to be staying on the 12th-worst team in the East).
But I think this deal is even better for the Pacers as Siakam brings a lot of height, aggression, physicality, scoring touch, and MUCH NEEDED REBOUNDING to this Pacers side that they have just simply lacked outside of Myles Turner. Still, with all of this being said, I just don’t see the Pacers being able to outlast the Celtics or the 76ers in a seven-game series as they still have starting player issues (IMO) in the wing spots with Brown now gone.
But, that’s probably not something the Pacers are too worried about right now as they have the chance to show the entire NBA that they are a LEGIT NBA franchise again and can go toe-to-toe with all of the powerhouses in the East. And that’s great for the league!
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