INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) \u2014 With the Pacers 12-point loss to the Pistons on Sunday, Indiana ends its season with a 19-63 record. The Pacers 19 wins is the lowest season win total in franchise history.<\/p>\n
In the year prior, the Pacers went all the way to Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. But this season has been a year full of injuries and season-long roster changes.<\/p>\n
Despite a tough year, head coach Rick Carlisle appreciates the steady fan support across all 82 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing that\u2019s been quite interesting for me this year is going around the NBA and seeing more and more Pacer uniforms on the road of fans in the stands,\u201d Carlisle said. \u201cIt speaks to how last years run hit people in a pretty authentic way. We\u2019ve picked up some fans and it\u2019s really appreciated, and we want to honor that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pacers\u2019 point guard TJ McConnell has now played seven seasons in a Indiana uniform. Before the season finale against Detroit, McConnell also shared his admiration for Pacers fans throughout an unfortunate season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s obviously been a tough year for us, but the fans, I\u2019ve said it a thousand times, they\u2019re incredible,\u201d McConnell said. \u201cThe best fans in the league, and they never wavered, never faltered, and stuck with us through it all. I just want to give thanks to them and I really appreciate them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Come next season, the Pacers will have plenty to look forward too. But it starts with attacking the offseason the right way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that we go into the summer, and everybody is just really really mad about our situation,\u201d Pacers\u2019 forward Pascal Siakam said. \u201cThis was really really frustrating and I hope we bring that rage into the summer. Everyone getting better individually, find some time together to stay together and work together as a team so that when we come back, we understand what it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not only will the Pacers have its star Tyrese Haliburton back from injury next season, but Indiana\u2019s new center Ivica Zubac will give the Pacers an added boost for the start of a full season.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though we didn\u2019t get to play that many games with him, the games I did get to play with him, you could just get a sense and a feel that he knows how to play the game,\u201d Pacers\u2019 guard Aaron Nesmith said about Zubac. \u201cHe\u2019s about the right things, he just wants to win, and he brings something that we haven\u2019t had here so that\u2019s exciting to play with and get for a full season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indiana will now have an entire summer to rest and recover before the start of the 2026-2027 regular season beginning in October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) \u2014 With the Pacers 12-point loss to the Pistons on Sunday, Indiana ends its season with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3774],"tags":[7,113,126,3866,6,114],"class_list":{"0":"post-709671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indiana-pacers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-indiana","10":"tag-indiana-pacers","11":"tag-indianapacers","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-pacers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116397647489288406","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}