INDIANAPOLIS – Pacers coach Rick Carlisle has agreed to a multi-year contract extension with the franchise after leading Indiana to its first NBA Finals appearance since 2000 and second since leaving the ABA for the NBA in 1976, a league source confirmed to the IndyStar on Tuesday morning. The number of years and salary figures were not immediately available.
Marc Stein, formerly of the New York Times and ESPN, who now publishes The Stein Line on Substack, had the story first.
Carlisle signed a four-year contract reportedly worth $29 million in 2021 when he returned to the Pacers after previously leading the team from 2003-07 and working as an assistant with the team from 1997-2000 under then head coach Larry Bird. He signed a previous contract extension just before the 2023-24 season despite a 60-104 record in his first two seasons while the Pacers were rebuilding. Since then, he’s helped the Pacers reach the Eastern Conference Finals in each of the past two seasons with a 97-67 regular season record and 23-17 playoff mark.
The Pacers formally announced the extension in a press release Tuesday afternoon.
“Since his return to the Pacers in 2021, Coach Carlisle has been integral to our success, which includes leading us to consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearances and our first NBA Finals appearance in 25 years,” President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard said in the release. “Beyond his coaching achievements that rank him among the best in NBA history, Coach Carlisle continues to embrace our community and give back to the state of Indiana with his Drive and Dish program. We are thrilled to have him continue leading our team and representing our organization well into the future.”
Carlisle also had a statement in the release.
“Herb Simon, the Simon family, Steven Rales, Kevin Pritchard and our players make Indiana such a special place,” Carlisle said in the release, referring to the Pacers’ ownership. “Let’s go!”
The 65-year-old Carlisle ranks 11th in the NBA in all-time coaching wins with 993, second only to Doc Rivers among active coaches. He also ranks 10th in total playoff wins with 86. He was named NBA Coach of the Year in 2002 with the Pistons and won an NBA title with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011.
What he’s done with the Pacers in this second stint might be his most impressive coaching accomplishment. In his first year back on staff in 2021-22, they finished 25-57 and committed a a complete roster turnover but accelerated the rebuild by acquiring point guard Tyrese Haliburton in a trade for All-Star center Domantas Sabonis.
In 2022-23 they made a 10-win improvement to 35-47 and showed signs even then of a quick rebuild. In 2023-24 they returned to the playoffs for the first time since the 2019-20 season and stunned the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks in the playoffs before losing to the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. This season they went a step further, entering the playoffs with the No. 4 seed and beating the Bucks again in the first round, then stunning the No. 1 seed Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals and taking down the Knicks again in the conference finals. They battled the Oklahoma City Thunder for seven games but lost after Haliburton tore his right Achilles tendon seven minutes into Game 7.
Carlisle’s time with the Pacers has showcased his willingness to adapt to the changes in the game since he was hired for his first head coaching job with the Pistons in 2001 and to the changes in his roster. His first Pistons teams were slow, methodical and defense oriented, which fit the game at the time. Over the past three seasons the Pacers have been one of the fastest-moving offenses in the NBA. Early in his career, Carlisle was known for having a seemingly infinite collection of set plays. He still has those, but much of what the Pacers do now is based on randomized movement and a “flow” game which makes them hard to prepare for.
In the 2023-24 season, the Pacers led the NBA with 123.3 points per game, the sixth-highest figure in league history and the highest since the Denver Nuggets in 1983-84. This season they fell to seventh in the league in scoring with 117.4 points per game but made dramatic improvements on the defensive end with full-court pressure, finishing 17th in the league in scoring defense after finishing 27th the season before.
The Pacers will not be expected to return to the Finals in 2025-26 with Haliburton expected to miss the whole season and center Myles Turner having left for the Bucks in free agency, but the Pacers still return three other starters and their top subs from their NBA Finals run.
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