"That's the annoying part for me" - T.J. McConnell explains why everyone was wrong about the Indiana Pacers for the last two years

“That’s the annoying part for me” – T.J. McConnell explains why everyone was wrong about the Indiana Pacers for the last two years originally appeared on Basketball Network.

T.J. McConnell‘s career is very similar to the story of the Indiana Pacers over the last couple of years. Both have been overlooked, disrespected and needed to prove themselves time and time again to finally get the proper recognition they deserve.

Interestingly, McConnell has done it while being the backup point guard of the Pacers in 2025, being an intergal part of the team that played in the Finals.

Nobody saw him having such a huge role and nobody picked Indiana to go so far before the playoffs started. With a 50-32 record and a fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, the Pacers weren’t looked at as a serious threat. Not to the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers in the East, who had a dominant regular season, let alone Oklahoma City Thunder who steamrolled the Western Conference with its league best 68-14 record.

Fluke run?

Indiana was one game away from winning a championship in the end. Game 7 in Oklahoma had everyone on the edge of their seat, until Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles early in the game. At that point, everyone knew it was only a matter of time before the Thunder broke the game open.

Still, the Pacers finally seemed to get the respect they deserved. They applauded the team’s effort without true superstars and the grit Indiana showed despite being a less talented team than OKC.

But, McConnell didn’t forget the disrespect.

“Last year, everyone said it was a fluke run to the Eastern Conference finals. Great. You can say that, but you don’t catch the lightning in the bottle twice and then go all the way to the Finals,” T.J. stated before talking about the real reasons why the Pacers couldn’t get the proper recognition.

“I just think we’re a really good team and we’re really well coached. And the fact that we’re in a small market and we don’t have any mega-superstars… And I think the fans don’t see the whole team aspect; they want to see superstars. And that’s the annoying part for me,” McConnell stated.

Media coverage contributed to fans’ perspective

The way NBA is being covered today, it’s focused on the biggest markets and major networks always talk the most about them, whether they’re really serious threats to win it all or not.

The reason for that is simple.

They know talking about the Los Angeles Lakers will bring the most eyeballs to the shows. Nobody will disagree with the fact that talking about LeBron James and Luka Doncic tandem will be more interesting to the fans than Chet Holmgren vs Myles Turner matchup we saw in the Finals.

On one hand, it’s logical. You have to talk about things people want to listen to the most because that’s what makes the multi-billion-dollar league like the NBA go.

The problem is, basketball takes a back seat that way because you don’t talk nearly enough about the greatness we saw from the Thunder and the Pacers in the Finals, for example, because they’re small-market teams.

It’s all about the money and networks will continue to deliver the content fans want to see the most. Sadly, until fans show the interest that they want to see more team analysis focused on basketball, the small-market teams will never get the respect they deserve.

It’s the only solution, because theoretically, the networks could promote that kind of content more themselves, but we already mentioned that the NBA is a multi-billion-dollar business.

It’s easier for them to give the people what they want, than try to change their viewers’ habits by sacrificing their financial situation short term.

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 22, 2025, where it first appeared.

“That’s the annoying part for me” – T.J. McConnell explains why everyone was wrong about the Indiana Pacers for the last two years

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