The calendar has turned to September. You know what that means, right?! Our offseason outlook series is back for the third-straight year!
Hot Hot Hoops senior writer Matt Hanifan will provide his take on the offseasons of all 30 teams for the next 30 days! We will be going in alphabetical order, beginning with the Eastern Conference. Today, we will look at the Indiana Pacers’ summer!
Previous offseason outlooks:
- Atlanta Hawks
- Boston Celtics
- Brooklyn Nets
- Charlotte Hornets
- Chicago Bulls
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Detroit Pistons
Evaluating the Indiana Pacers’ 2026 offseason:
Additions: Larry Nance Jr., Kelly Oubre Jr.
Subtractions: Kam Jones, Micah Potter, Taelon Peter
Re-signed: Kobe Brown
Draft: Braden Smith (No. 38 overall)
Hanifan’s outlook: Frankly, the Pacers’ biggest offseason addition was getting Tyrese Haliburton back.
After the star point guard tore his achilles in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, Haliburton missed all of 2025-26. And so did the Pacers — figuratively, not literally. The Pacers’ season was sunk from the start after myriad injuries, ultimately finishing with 19 wins.
The knife was twisted a little more on the night of the draft lottery. The Pacers traded away their 2026 first-round pick as part of a three-player swap at the deadline for Clippers center Ivica Zubac. The pick, however, was protected 1-4 and 10-30 — meaning they would only lose it if it fell between 5-9. Evidently, the Pacers fell three positions in the lottery results from No. 2 to 5, losing their first-round pick to the Clippers (turning into a 2031 first).
Even though they missed on a generational guard class, the Pacers still have a good team heading into next year. Haliburton-Pascal Siakam-Zubac is a very formidable trio, and adding Kelly Oubre Jr. helps fill the void vacated by Bennedict Mathurin (sent to LAC in the Zubac trade). Indiana’s going to be a good team and should have more buzz than they’re receiving heading into the new season.
Grade: B-
***
To check out our other content, click here.
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter/X here!
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram here!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!
- Timberwolves hand Heat their first preseason loss 125-124 with starters out
- NBA PRESEASON GAMETHREAD: Minnesota Timberwolves (1-1) @ Miami HEAT (2-0)
- Winners and losers from Heat’s second preseason game v. Pelicans
- Davion Mitchell EXCLUSIVE interview: Miami Heat guard talks Call of Duty, upcoming season and more
- Giannis Antetokounmpo continues to impress in Heat’s second preseason game v. Pelicans
- NBA PRESEASON GAMETHREAD: New Orleans Pelicans (1-0) @ Miami Heat (1-0)
- This 1 play highlights importance of Bam Adebayo’s shooting growth
Indiana has a very different style of playing basketball, which caused a lot of problem to everybody, including Heat. Heat tried to copy that last year, but you need to have the right player and the right coach for that.
Anyway, that all in past. They wont be as successful as they were 2 seasons ago.
They were up by 1 going into the 3Q of Finals Gm7, couldn’t hold on vs OKC at home and without Haliburton. Same starting lineup except with Zubac in for Turner. New year new situation but this is as talented a team as any, a deep team also that excelled at full court pressuring the ball, transition hit ahead passes, things the Heat can do also.
7-8 place.