Hanifan's Offseason Outlook: Evaluating the Indiana Pacers' offseason

Hot Hot Hoops senior writer Matt Hanifan will provide his take on the offseasons of all 30 teams for the next 30 days! Today, we are looking back on the Indiana Pacers’ offseason!

Previous Offseason Outlooks:

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Additions: Cole Swider, James Wiseman

Subtractions: Doug McDermott, Jalen Smith, Oscar Tshiebwe, Isaiah Wong

Re-signed: Obi Toppin, Pascal Siakam, T.J. McConnell, Andrew Nembhard, James Johnson, Quenton Jackson

Draft: Johnny Furphy (No. 35 overall), Tristen Newton (No. 49), Enrique Freeman (No. 50)

Hanifan’s Take: Coming off the franchise’s first Eastern Conference Finals appearance since 2013-14, the Indiana Pacers had a busy offseason keeping their current core together after acquiring All-NBA wing Pascal Siakam ahead of the trade deadline. Siakam signed a four-year, $189 million max contract; Obi Toppin inked a team-friendly four-year, $58 million deal; postseason standouts Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell signed respected extensions through 2026-27. The Pacers essentially swapped out Jalen Smith for James Wiseman, who still has untapped potential at 23-years-old, as one of their backup bigs. I’m not sure how much all of this raises their Finals ceiling in the short-term, but in today’s climate where drafting-and-developing is becoming more incentivized, locking up their current core to continuously remain under the punitive second apron isn’t the worst strategy in the world. To echo Myles Turner’s sentiment: Indiana needs to improve on the glass after being a bottom-five rebounding squad last year. It also needs to be more sound defensively if it has any NBA Finals aspirations.