Sometimes a note from my IndyStar text group is so good, so tantalizing, we have to get right to it. Normally we start the weekly Mailbagg™ with some nonsense before getting right to anything. Clearing your throat, you call it when a writer does that – and it’s not a compliment.
Kind of like I just did there.
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Anyway…
A text from Tom B. in response to my latest column on the Indiana Pacers – where I cleared my throat, err, noted the Pacers’ paradox – had a fascinating idea. Not that the column itself wasn’t fascinating. It was!
The column noted the timing of Pacers president Kevin Pritchard scouting the BYU-Kansas game, featuring the probable top two picks in the 2026 NBA Draft, hours before the Pacers – back home in Indiana – won for the third time in four games … jeopardizing their odds of having a shot at BYU’s A.J. Dybantsa or KU’s Darryn Peterson. Or at Duke’s Cam Boozer, the probable No. 3 overall pick.
This is the Pacers’ paradox, and has been for years: They win just enough to crush their odds of winning the NBA Draft lottery, or even securing a top-three pick.
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So, back to Tom B.
Doyel: Losing gives Pacers shot at Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa or Cam Boozer
Doyel: Join this text message group with Gregg Doyel, I mean, with me!
Would Indiana Pacers trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo?
From: Tom B.
The Pacers should trade for Giannis: Trade their 1st-round pick this year, plus a future 1st-rounder, plus Bennedict Mathurin and Jarace Walker. Pacers would also probably have to throw in Obi Toppin or Isaiah Jackson. Makes so much sense for both teams and gives Giannis best chance to win another title since the Eastern Conference is so much weaker than the Western Conference.
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There’s a lot here to discuss, and not necessarily because it’s a great idea and might happen. Not sure it’s a great idea. Pretty sure it won’t happen.
That said…
In a vacuum, your offer might get the Bucks’ attention. But we’re not in a vacuum. The entire league knows Giannis wants out, and a handful of teams with legit NBA championship hopes this season know Giannis would push them into the role of favorite. Teams like that, teams that want to win right now, are more motivated – desperate – than a team like the Pacers, playing for next season.
That said, the idea of Giannis joining the Pacers is fascinating. Would he agree to it? Would the Pacers’ locker room allow it?
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Would you?
One thing about sports: We’ll forgive almost anything, if the offending player is on our team. Fans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse have gone after Giannis mercilessly, and while he’s been part of some nonsense with the Pacers – that December 2023 incident after he scored 64 points, for one – he’s done nothing that can’t be explained away by competitive fire.
The first meeting between Giannis and Tyrese Haliburton’s dad would be interesting, and by that I mean: Who would dive in for the hug first? Because that’s what would happen. Competition, emotion, even poor sportsmanship – all of it would be forgiven if Giannis and the Pacers joined forces to pursue the 2027 NBA title.
Biggest reason the Pacers would do it:
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Pacers owner Herb Simon turns 92 this year. He came so close to his first NBA title in 2025. You ask me, he’d sign off on anything he felt would give the Pacers their best shot at getting there again. Hard to imagine a scenario better than adding Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Doyel: Everyone’s happy for Herb Simon as Pacers enter 2025 NBA Finals
Doyel: About that meeting between Giannis, John Haliburton after Game 7
IU basketball beats Purdue. Darian DeVries needed it.
Purdue goes into Assembly Hall looking to end a two-game losing streak … and sees it grow to three.
IU basketball coach Darian DeVries goes into that game looking for his first signature win of the season, and his tenure at Indiana … and gets it.
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Big ol’ game, that one.
Doyel: IU basketball thumps Purdue as Darian DeVries celebrates Assembly Hall
From: Kenny K
IU grad, and was there for this one. Great energy for a late game and the weather conditions. We needed to see this from this team. As for Purdue, I would highly advise they fire Painter for sure!!
Doesn’t matter who the coach is – this has been the question with Indiana basketball for 20 years: Can the Hoosiers play anywhere else NEARLY as well, and as hard, as they do inside Assembly Hall?
Every college team gets an extra boost from home, of course, but as I was told when I was hired here in 2014 – and have come to see with my own two eyes – Assembly Hall is different.
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As to your cute joke: Fans all over the Big Ten would benefit from a coaching change at Purdue. Matt Painter is sooooo good.
Doyel: Buffalo Bills fire Sean McDermott? They didn’t learn from Purdue, Painter in 2023
From: Alan H.
It was obvious from the first possession that the Hoosiers wanted the ball way more than Purdue. Maybe Coach DeVries was right in giving the crowd so much credit.
I loved that Darian DeVries went to the crowd afterward, on the court, to thank them – and then did it again, verbally, in his news conference. He wasn’t wrong.
What’s next for Butler basketball, and Thad Matta?
Butler (13-9, 4-7 Big East) has entered the final month of another regular season that’s fine, decent, acceptable … for most schools. Is it acceptable now at Butler?
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This is not me trying to suggest Butler needs to make a coaching change – don’t put those words into my mouth.
No, this is me … well, let’s get to Matt B’s comment. I’ll dig in deeper there.
Doyel: Butler basketball’s impossible cold spell dooms Dawgs vs. Georgetown
From: Matt B.
I’m a Butler grad, Gregg. I feel so horrible for Thad Matta. I fear that he’s not going to get it done. Do you think the game has changed too much for him? It seems that maybe you were hinting at that. No question he’s had a great career. You can’t fake 499 wins. I just thought by now they would be rolling.
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Matta still has the energy and ambition to win big, and he hasn’t forgotten how to do it, but he’s not playing from the same deck as most of his opponents. Butler doesn’t have:
∎ A BCS football team generating huge revenue.
∎ The enormous alumni base of schools like, say, IU or Purdue.
Now, other than UConn, the same is true of the rest of the Big East Conference. But so many of those schools – Marquette, Villanova, St. John’s, Creighton – Butler doesn’t have a fan base that has completely lost its mind. And I say that as a compliment to Butler alums, who see more to life than writing fat checks to buy a point guard or, in the case of St. John’s, a scummy coach like Rick Pitino.
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That doesn’t make it easy on Matta or Butler AD Grant Leiendecker. Butler is a welterweight, fighting as hard as it can to beat cruiserweights.
Bill Belichick, HOF snub? Good.
Pro Football Hall of Fame voters sent former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, and everyone else, a strong message when they kept the six-time Super Bowl winner out of the HOF Class of 2026:
Cheating has consequences.
What happened next? Blew me away. And not just me.
Doyel: No Pro Football Hall of Fame for cheater Bill Belichick? It’s justice.
From: Matt D.
Your take on Bill Belichick really resonates for me, but is anyone else saying it? Seems like all the national talking heads are on the other side. Has ANYONE thought the same as you? Or even mentioned it as a perspective?
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The support for Belichick on social media and sports-talk TV – like so many things on both platforms – has been discouraging. Having principles shouldn’t be that hard, but here’s what happened:
As Belichick’s snub was leaked, the first few people who were moved to respond – as is so often the case – were angry. That got the momentum going, and everyone else fell into line. Hey, it’s easier to agree with the world than tell it: Hey, you’re wrong here.
From: Joseph W.
There was so much support for Belichick on Twitter, I had to question my opinion. But no, I’m not wrong here. He was a great coach, but there has to be some accountability for the (stuff) he did.
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Groupthink on Twitter, Joe. That’s all that is. You can cower to it, or laugh at it. Keep giggling, my friend.
IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel (left) with Magdalane, a comfort dog at Cornerstone Lutheran Church
Not printing these
From: Jerry B.
Thank you for speaking to the seniors group.
Aww!! You bet. Cornerstone Lutheran Church in Carmel invited me to speak to its Seniors Group, and guess who was there to greet me? Magdalene, one of the church’s TWO comfort dogs!!!
Normally with groups like this, I talk about the life and times of a sports columnist – me, I’m saying – by making fun of myself and then answering questions from the crowd. This talk was different. I discussed my spiritual journey since March 2024, how God used the lowest moment of my life to build something beautiful.
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Can’t wait to share that testimony again. Churches, call me.
Well, email me. I don’t answer calls from numbers I don’t recognize. What. Say something.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Threads, or on BlueSky and Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar, or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar. Subscribe to the free weekly Doyel on Demand newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Would Indiana Pacers make run at Giannis Antetokounmpo for next year?