Whether\u00a0the\u00a0Indiana Pacers\u00a0want\u00a0to admit it\u00a0or not, they\u00a0are tanking.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
This season\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0about wins and\u00a0losses,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0about hitting the reset button.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0about figuring out who fits, what\u00a0works\u00a0and how to bounce back from a season full of injuries and setbacks. Tanking gets a bad rap, but at its core,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0just a strategy: lose now to give yourself a better shot at competing for a championship later.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But before we talk about what comes next,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0important to understand how we got here.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On June 22,\u00a0last year,\u00a0the Indiana Pacers were one game away from an NBA title. Now, less than a year later, they have one of the worst records in the league and look likely to receive a\u00a0top\u00a0four\u00a0draft pick. How did the Pacers get here, and is\u00a0their\u00a0collapse\u00a0a failure or\u00a0deliberate\u00a0tank?\u00a0<\/p>\n
To understand what happened, you\u00a0must\u00a0relive\u00a0Game 7 of the\u00a0NBA\u00a0Finals, where everything changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The most heartbreaking part\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0losing the\u00a0game\u00a0\u2014\u00a0it was losing the heart and soul of the franchise.\u00a0All-NBA\u00a0guard\u00a0Tyrese Haliburton came out on fire. He started\u00a0the game\u00a03\u00a0for\u00a04 from\u00a03-point range, scoring nine\u00a0points\u00a0in\u00a0seven\u00a0minutes\u00a0with no sign of slowing down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With\u00a0five\u00a0minutes left in the first quarter,\u00a0Haliburton slipped and started banging his hand onto the court.\u00a0He\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0return to the\u00a0game,\u00a0and\u00a0the injury\u00a0was later revealed to be a\u00a0torn achilles tendon<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is where the downfall began,\u00a0but not where it ended. Losing\u00a0Haliburton was a devastating blow\u00a0that ended the team\u2019s championship run, yet there was still reason to believe.\u00a0With Pascal Siakam, Aaron Nesmith and Andrew\u00a0Nembhard,\u00a0fans had a sliver of hope\u00a0the Pacers still had enough talent to push for a playoff spot this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n From the onset of this\u00a0season,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0felt cursed.\u00a0The Pacers<\/a>\u00a0had\u00a0numerous\u00a0key injuries\u00a0that extinguished the possibility of an appearance in the playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n The losses kept piling up. Lineups changed\u00a0almost every\u00a0night, sometimes including multiple players called up from the\u00a0Noblesville Boom<\/a>. Any sense of rhythm from last year vanished. What had once been a team built on pace, chemistry and smart decision-making turned into a squad searching for answers it was never going to find this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n And that is where the conversation shifts.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is no longer\u00a0just about what\u00a0went wrong. It is about what the Pacers are doing now and what\u00a0they\u2019ll\u00a0choose to do next.\u00a0<\/p>\n And whether you agree with\u00a0it or not,\u00a0the tank\u00a0appears to be\u00a0in full force\u00a0with\u00a0Indiana Pacers\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and this might be the perfect year to do it.\u00a0Other teams like the Washington Wizards, Brooklyn Nets and the Sacramento Kings are locked into a\u00a0tanking war<\/a>\u00a0with the Pacers.\u00a0<\/p>\n The top of this draft is loaded<\/a>\u00a0with potential franchise changers.\u00a0There are at least three or four players who could alter the trajectory of a team overnight.\u00a0Right\u00a0now,\u00a0the Pacers<\/a>\u00a0have a 14% chance for the first pick, 13.4% chance for the\u00a0second\u00a0and a 12.7% chance at the\u00a0third.\u00a0<\/p>\n But\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0no guarantee that a draft pick will pan out the way everyone expects. And even though fans will expect Haliburton to return to his normal self, recovery from a\u00a0torn Achilles<\/a>\u00a0is never simple. How he looks on the court, how quickly he regains his\u00a0rhythm\u00a0and how the team adapts around him will define next season and beyond.\u00a0<\/p>\n That is why patience matters for both the team and the fans. The Pacers made the right choice by using this year to focus on developing their young players, like\u00a0Nembhard and\u00a0Jarace\u00a0Walker<\/a>,\u00a0while preparing for the draft. Building a foundation for future success was more important than chasing a playoff spot in a year when they had no real shot.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trust that the front office that brought\u00a0them\u00a0to Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals knows what it is doing. Trust that the role players from last year are learning, improving and could become key pieces of this team for years to come. Trust that sometimes losing now is the only way to give the Pacers a real chance to win later.\u00a0<\/p>\n The fan reaction has been surprisingly understanding of the team\u2019s position. When the Pacers do win, the response on social media is\u00a0often\u00a0confusion<\/a>\u00a0instead of\u00a0joy.\u00a0<\/p>\n The tank may feel\u00a0frustrating, especially after how close we were last year. But it is the reset this team needs. If the Pacers get it right, the low points of this year could be the\u00a0initial\u00a0steps toward\u00a0the\u00a0Pacers\u00a0first\u00a0NBA\u00a0Championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jack Davis (he\/him) is a junior majoring in media with a sports concentration and pursuing a minor in folklore and ethnomusicology and a certificate in journalism.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n