What’s Next For the Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers were hoping for a deep playoff run under new head coach Nate Bjorkgren who came in to replace Nate McMillan, McMillan would become the interim head coach for the Atlanta Hawks following the firing of Lloyd Pierce. McMillan would guide the Hawks to the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference and to the second round of the playoffs and could potentially go farther than that.
The Pacers started off the season with a record of 6–2, but the injuries started piling on. First was bubble standout T.J. Warren, who suffered from a broken left navicular bone in his foot, it would keep him out for the rest of the season. Justin Holiday replaced Warren for most of the season until Bjorkgren made an adjustment to move Edmond Sumner to replace Holiday.
The Pacers jumped into a four team trade that sent superstar shooting guard James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets, Jarrett Allen to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Victor Oladipo to the Houston Rockets and Caris LeVert to the Pacers. The trade took awhile to complete however as LeVert was found to have a small mass on his kidney which sidelined him for two months. Doug McDermott would replace Oladipo/LeVert in the starting line-up.
Losing two starters for extensive periods of time really hurt the Pacers, but the Eastern Conference was weak this season with two playoff teams finishing below .500. Just when LeVert got back on the court another injury took place, this time it was Defensive Player of the Year candidate Myles Turner who tore a plantar plate in his big toe. Sumner would replace Turner in the starting line-up.
The Pacers crumbled following the injury to Turner and other key role players such as Jeremy Lamb. The Pacers clinched a play-in spot following a 103–94 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. The Pacers would win a big game over the Toronto Raptors to be able to host a play-in game. The Pacers finished as the ninth seed in the East and they would play the 10th seeded Charlotte Hornets. The Pacers dominated the Hornets 144–117 and would play the eighth seeded Washington Wizards for a crack at the eighth seed in the East. The Pacers crumbled big time and lost 144–115.
Following a disappointing season for the Indiana Pacers, President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard decided to fire the first time head coach Bjorkgren. The search has started and Pritchard wants a coach with experience and the Portland Trailblazers have just fired their head coach Terry Stotts after nine seasons as coach. Other names to monitor are Steve Clifford and Mike D’Antoni.
The Pacers will have lottery pick in the heavily loaded 2021 NBA Draft class headlined by big names such as Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley. The Pacers will likely hold the 13th overall pick. Players such as Tyler Herro, Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker and Zach LaVine have been taken 13th overall in the last decade. The Pacers have taken Myles Turner and Paul George with their last two lottery selections. The Pacers have taken Goga Bitadze and Aaron Holiday with their last two first round selections.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Pritchard said that he wanted to continue building around the core of Malcolm Brogdon, LeVert, Warren, Domantas Sabonis and Turner, but last off-season the Pacers almost traded Turner away for Gordon Hayward so that raises the question who is safe and who isn’t? Indiana will look to bring back key free agents T.J. McConnell and McDermott, but may only have enough cap space to sign one of them. McDermott wants to return to Indiana and McConnell was one of the best players off the bench last season, maybe the Pacers can bring both of them back if one of them takes a team friendly deal. The Pacers had a disappointing season, but with a new head coach and a lottery pick the future is looking bright in Indianapolis once again.
