Spurs Trade No. 38 Pick Kam Jones To Pacers
July 6: The trade is official, per an announcement from the Spurs (Twitter link). The draft rights to No. 38 pick Kam Jones have been sent to Indiana in exchange for Sacramento’s 2030 second-round pick and cash.
June 25: The Spurs have agreed to trade the No. 38 overall pick in this year’s draft to the Pacers in exchange for a future second-round pick and cash, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The pick headed to San Antonio is the Kings’ 2030 second-rounder, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link).
While the deal is the first reported first draft-night trade, it technically won’t even affect Wednesday’s results, since the Pacers won’t make their newly acquired No. 38 pick until Thursday.
San Antonio still holds a pair of lottery picks at No. 2 and No. 14, but Indiana previously traded away its own first-rounder and only controlled the No. 54 overall pick, so this will give them a second 2025 selection.
The fact that the Pacers are agreeing to this trade now instead of waiting to see who’s on the board suggests they’re not necessarily targeting a specific prospect at that spot.
For a team flirting with the luxury tax line, the ability to select a player at No. 38 and sign him to a rookie-minimum contract could be valuable, since that player’s cap hit (projected to be $1.27MM) would be $1MM+ less than the cap charge for a player on a veteran-minimum deal ($2.3MM). It’s also worth noting, as Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, that the No. 23 pick Indiana traded away last week would’ve carried a cap hit of roughly $3.2MM.
As Keith Smith of Spotrac notes (via Twitter), sending out cash will hard-cap the Pacers at the second tax apron for the 2025/26 league year.
Rick Carlisle: Re-Signing Myles Turner Is ‘No. 1 Priority’
During his weekly radio interview on 107.5 The Fan on Tuesday morning (YouTube link), Pacers coach Rick Carlisle dispelled any speculation that the team might be less inclined to re-sign Myles Turner after losing Tyrese Haliburton to a torn Achilles, relays Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star.
There have been reports that owner Herb Simon would be willing to pay the luxury tax if it becomes necessary to reach a new deal with Turner. That was before Haliburton’s injury in Game 7 of the NBA Finals that might sideline him for a full year, which figures to hamper Indiana’s chances to be competitive next season. However, Carlisle insists nothing has changed.
“I don’t think it’s any secret that the franchise, at this particular moment, that that is the No. 1 priority,” he said of Turner. “I don’t know anything about money or numbers or years, or any of that kind of stuff, but Myles is a very important part of what we’ve done here, what we’ve been doing. He’s a very important part of the history of the franchise, certainly over the last decade. I know that will be a big topic. I’m not privy to every little conversation going on there, but Myles is a very important part of what we’re doing. That will be a big thing.”
Turner is the longest-tenured current Pacer, spending the past decade with the organization after being selected with the 11th pick in the 2015 draft. He made close to $20MM this season in the final year of a two-year extension and could add $10MM+ to his annual salary in his next contract.
The Hawks and Pistons have been mentioned as teams that would have strong interest in Turner if he hits the open market.
Dopirak points out that the Pacers aren’t able to extend Turner’s contract again before free agency begins on Monday. However, they can begin negotiations on a new deal now that the NBA Finals have concluded.
Turner is coming off another productive season, averaging 15.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 72 games and finishing third in the league with 144 blocked shots. He also became a more reliable three-point shooter, connecting at a career best 39.6% from beyond the arc and sinking a career-high 156 three-pointers.
Dopirak adds that if the Pacers are able to re-sign Turner, all five of their playoff starters will be under contract through the 2026/27 season.
2025 NBA Offseason Preview: Indiana Pacers
The Pacers appeared in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2024, but benefited from injuries to key Bucks and Knicks players during the first two rounds, then were swept out of the third round by the Celtics. While they were viewed as a solid team, the Pacers were also a No. 6 seed that had only avoided a play-in game due to a tiebreaker edge over a Philadelphia with an identical regular season record.
In other words, when they decided to run it back with a pretty similar roster in 2024/25, few fans or experts were projecting the Pacers to make another appearance in the conference finals, especially in the wake of a 10-15 start that had them outside of the top 10 in the East in mid-December.
But the Pacers proved during the final four months of the regular season and two-plus months of the postseason that last year's run to the Eastern Finals was no fluke after all. The club went 40-17 following that 10-15 start, ranking in the top seven in both offense and defense during that stretch, and secured a top-four seed in the East with its first 50-win season in over a decade.
Indiana's second consecutive first-round series win over Milwaukee wasn't a surprise this time around, but the results of the next two rounds were -- the Pacers defeated the heavily favored 64-win Cavaliers in five games, then knocked off the higher-seeded Knicks in six games to set up an NBA Finals matchup with the 68-win Thunder. Huge underdogs once again against the league's best regular season team, Indiana pushed Oklahoma City all the way to a Game 7 before its magical playoff run finally came to an end.
The Pacers' depth was a major part of their success. Although Pascal Siakam was the team's leading scorer, he averaged a relatively modest 20.2 points per game in the regular season and 20.5 PPG in the playoffs, with role players like Myles Turner, Bennedict Mathurin, Aaron Nesmith, Obi Toppin, Andrew Nembhard, and T.J. McConnell all helping to carry the scoring load.
Still, while Siakam led Indiana in scoring and the club's depth was arguably its greatest asset, point guard Tyrese Haliburton was its star. Haliburton, who ranked third in the league with 9.2 assists per game, earned a spot on the All-NBA third team, then had one of most clutch playoff runs in recent history, repeatedly hitting game-winning or game-tying shots in the final seconds of fourth quarters to help the Pacers complete improbable comebacks and steal games they had no business winning.
Haliburton's playoff heroics made it all the more heartbreaking that he tore his right Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the Finals vs. the Thunder. Without their star point guard, the Pacers couldn't pull off the upset in Oklahoma City, and now they face the prospect of playing the entire 2025/26 season without him, given that Achilles tears typically sideline NBA players for at least nine-to-12 months.
Just how significantly that injury will affect Indiana's offseason plans is a crucial question that the front office will answer with its actions in the coming days and weeks.
The Pacers' Offseason Plan
During his time as the Pacers' owner, Herb Simon hasn't made a habit of operating at either end of the spectrum too often, having avoided tanking and tax-paying in equal measure. But after his team's unlikely run to the NBA Finals this season, there were rumblings that Simon was preparing to go into luxury tax territory in 2025/26 for the first time in 20 years in order to keep the core of this roster intact.
Tyrese Haliburton Undergoes Surgery On Torn Achilles
10:14 pm: Haliburton has published a photo of himself in his hospital bed, post-surgery, along with a candid message to Pacers fans (Twitter link).
“Words cannot express the pain of this letdown,” Haliburton wrote, in part. “The frustration is unfathomable. I’ve worked my whole life to get to this moment and this is how it ends? Makes no sense.
“… At 25, I’ve already learned that God never gives us more than we can handle. I know I’ll come out on the other side of this a better man and a better player. And honestly, right now, torn Achilles and all, I don’t regret it. I’d do it again, and again after that, to fight for this city and my brothers. For the chance to do something special.
“Indy, I’m sorry. If any fan base doesn’t deserve this, it’s y’all. But together we are going to fight like hell to get back to this very spot, and get over this hurdle. I don’t doubt for a second that y’all have my back, and I hope you guys know that I have yours.”
5:02 pm: Haliburton underwent an MRI on Monday which confirmed the injury, according to a Pacers press release. The surgery will be performed today by Dr. Martin O’Malley at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.
12:33 pm: Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton has been diagnosed with a torn right Achilles tendon, sources confirm to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). Grant Afseth of RG.org, who initially reported that Haliburton suffered an Achilles tear, states that he’s traveling to New York on Monday to prepare for surgery to address the injury.
Haliburton had been playing through a right calf strain that he suffered in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. The injury likely would have sidelined him for multiple weeks had it occurred during the regular season, but he was determined to play through it and was able to finish out Game 5 and compete in Game 6 without any setbacks.
With just over five minutes left in the first quarter of Sunday’s game, Haliburton caught a pass outside the three-point line and made a move to drive toward the Thunder’s basket. However, his right leg gave way as he pushed off and he fell to the court, where he shouted in frustration, grabbing his right lower leg and then pounded his fist against the floor (Twitter video link via ESPN). He was unable to put any weight on the leg as he was helped off the court.
It immediately looked like it might be an Achilles injury and John Haliburton, Tyrese’ father, confirmed as much to ESPN’s Lisa Salters prior to the end of the first half.
While the Pacers kept the game close for a little while after their starting point guard went down, the Thunder began to pull away in the third quarter and held their lead for the rest of Game 7 to secure the 2025 NBA championship.
“It’s heart-breaking, man,” Pacers reserve center Thomas Bryant said after the game, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (subscription required). “You never want to see that with any of our players, especially with Ty. He’s the heart and soul of our team. He’s our point guard. He’s our point god, you know? We all gathered around each other when he went down and said we’re trying to do this for him, man. And it just sucks that we couldn’t get that accomplished.”
“We needed Ty out there,” added forward Obi Toppin. “He’s been good for us all year. For him to go down at the beginning of the game like that, it sucked the soul out of us.”
It’s a devastating blow for the Pacers and for Haliburton not just because it came during Game 7 of the NBA Finals but because it means the 25-year-old’s availability for the entire 2025/26 season is now very much in jeopardy. It often takes a full calendar year for a player to return from an Achilles tear.
Haliburton averaged 18.6 points, 9.2 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.4 steals in 33.6 minutes per game in 73 regular season starts for Indiana, with a shooting line of .473/.388/.851. While that performance earned him a spot on the All-NBA third team, he was even more impressive during the postseason, making multiple game-winning shots for the upstart Pacers, who came within one win of claiming the first NBA title in franchise history.
Haliburton is the third Eastern Conference star to tear an Achilles during this postseason, joining Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and Bucks guard Damian Lillard, whose injury occurred in the first round vs. Indiana. Haliburton is also the third Pacer to sustain that injury this season, as backup centers James Wiseman and Isaiah Jackson both did so in the span of nine days in the fall.
Haliburton is under contract with the Pacers through the 2028/29 season, so the franchise figures to continue building around him once he’s ready to return.
And-Ones: Taylor, Parker, Avdija, Power Rankings
Maria Taylor has officially been named NBC Sports’ lead studio host for the NBA and WNBA, according to an NBC Sports press release.
NBC reacquired the rights to NBA games in an 11-year agreement with the league last summer and will begin its coverage in 2025/26. Taylor will host NBC Sports’ NBA studio programs on Sunday and Tuesday nights alongside analysts Carmelo Anthony and Vince Carter.
Taylor has been the lead host of Football Night in America since 2022. Taylor also served as a host for the Tokyo, Beijing, and Paris Olympics and numerous other major events.
Here’s more from around the international basketball world:
- Jabari Parker, the No. 2 pick of the 2014 draft, will play for a different European team next season. Parker and FC Barcelona have mutually agreed on an early termination of their contract, Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops.net relays. Parker is expected to stay in the EuroLeague and join Partizan Mozzart Bet for the 2025/26 season. He averaged 13.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 0.8 steals per game over 39 appearances last season in the EuroLeague.
- Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija is among 20 players on the preliminary roster announced by the Israeli Basketball Association for the EuroBasket tournament this summer, according to Askounis. Israel is scheduled to compete in Group D of the preliminary round, facing Iceland, Poland, France, Belgium, and Slovenia in Katowice from Aug. 28-Sept. 4. Avdija made his debut for the Israeli national team in 2019.
- Not surprisingly, the champion Thunder are at the top of The Athletic’s and ESPN’s power rankings for next season. The Pacers, Knicks, Timberwolves and Cavaliers round out The Athletic’s top five. ESPN has a much different top five, going with the Timberwolves at No. 2, followed by the Nuggets, Cavs and Rockets.
Scotto’s Latest: Thunder, Pacers, Kings, Barrett, Rockets, Wolves, KD
Their seasons ended less than 24 hours ago, but the Thunder and Pacers will have significant roster decisions to make in the coming days, and executives around the NBA are keeping an eye on both teams to see how they’ll handle them, writes Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
The Thunder have the ability to essentially run it back with their same roster, since 13 of their players are on guaranteed deals for next season, while the team holds cost-effective options on the other two. However, Oklahoma City also has multiple first-round picks at No. 15 and No. 24 and could be facing a roster crunch.
According to Scotto, rival executives believe the Thunder may either trade the No. 24 pick for a future first-rounder or use it to select a potential draft-and-stash prospect like Hugo Gonzalez or Noah Penda. Execs also view former lottery pick Ousmane Dieng as a possible trade candidate as he enters the final year of his rookie scale contract, Scotto notes.
Meanwhile, with Tyrese Haliburton potentially sidelined for all of the 2025/26 season after tearing his Achilles, people in league circles are wondering if the Pacers and team owner Herb Simon are still prepared to go into luxury-tax territory in 2025/26 to re-sign Myles Turner and keep their roster intact, says Scotto. There’s an expectation that rivals will inquire this summer on the trade availability of role players like Bennedict Mathurin, Obi Toppin, and Jarace Walker, Scotto adds.
Here’s more from Scotto:
- Although a Sacramento Bee report over the weekend indicated that the Kings haven’t yet engaged in trade discussions about Malik Monk, Scotto hears from sources that the team has gauged the market on both Monk and Devin Carter as it seeks a potential first-round pick and a point guard upgrade. Sacramento was unwilling to move Carter when the club talked to the Nets about Cameron Johnson prior to the trade deadline, Scotto writes, but Scott Perry has replaced Monte McNair as the Kings’ head of basketball operations since then and may not be as attached to last year’s No. 13 overall pick.
- According to Scotto, the Raptors have continued to gauge the trade market for forward RJ Barrett. The former No. 3 overall pick hasn’t come off the bench since his rookie year in 2019/20, but could be the odd man out of Toronto’s starting five with Brandon Ingram set to make his Raptors debut this fall.
- Rockets head coach Ime Udoka, who spent a season with Kevin Durant in Brooklyn, was in favor of the Celtics trading for Durant during his time in Boston and advocated for Houston to acquire the star forward this summer, per Scotto. In addition to reuniting with Udoka, Durant will be teaming up again with friend and fellow Texas alum Royal Ivey — the Rockets assistant interviewed for the Suns‘ head coaching vacancy and turned down interest from the Grizzlies and Spurs for assistant coaching positions, Scotto reports.
- In addition to being concerned about Durant’s lack of enthusiasm for Minnesota, the Timberwolves didn’t want to lose Rudy Gobert, a Suns target in trade talks, which is why the Wolves didn’t end up beating Houston’s offer for the 15-time All-Star, Scotto explains. Giving up Gobert and potentially having Durant play alongside Julius Randle in their frontcourt wasn’t considered an “ideal pairing defensively” for the Wolves, Scotto writes.
Thunder Win First Championship Since Move; SGA Named Finals MVP
The Thunder claimed their first NBA championship since the franchise moved to Oklahoma City, as they defeated the depleted Pacers, 103-91, in Game 7 on Sunday.
Seattle, which won the championship in 1979, relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008. The Pacers, who have never won an NBA title, played the last three quarters without Tyrese Haliburton, who suffered an Achilles injury in the first quarter.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, this season’s Most Valuable Player, also earned Finals MVP honors, the league announced (via Twitter). It’s the 16th time a player has won both in the same year, though it hasn’t happened since LeBron James pulled it off during the 2012/13 season.
The Thunder should be major contenders for years to come with their young core, featuring Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren. The top priorities for the Thunder this offseason center around extensions.
Gilgeous-Alexander has met the performance criteria for a super-max contract and will become eligible to sign that extension next month. The 2024 MVP runner-up still has two years left on his current deal and can’t exceed six years in total, so the maximum value of his extension would be a projected $293.4MM over four years, beginning in 2027/28.
Williams and Holmgren are eligible for rookie scale extensions until the beginning of next seasons and both could receive the max – five years and a projected $246MM. The maximum value of those extensions could increase to a projected $296MM if All-NBA, MVP or Defensive Player of the Year honors are negotiated into the contracts.
The Pacers’ offseason outlook could change dramatically due to Haliburton’s injury. Myles Turner, their starting center, is headed to unrestricted free agency and while the Pacers reportedly want to re-sign him, they could have plenty of competition. Bennedict Mathurin is eligible for a rookie scale extension.
Several other key players, including Haliburton and Pascal Siakam, are signed through at least the 2027/28 season. Could they look to shed salary in light of Haliburton’s injury?
With the NBA Finals decided, the 2025 NBA offseason is officially underway. For the second straight year, teams will be permitted to negotiate contracts with their own free agents one day after the Finals. Players who won’t be free agents this offseason but who will become eligible to sign contract extensions on July 6 will also be permitted to begin negotiations with their current teams on Monday.
Thus, it wouldn’t be surprising if some agreements are reported this week. Free agent contracts still can’t be officially finalized until after the July moratorium lifts on July 6.
The draft will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, with free agency beginning on June 30 at 6 p.m. Eastern time.
Tyrese Haliburton Exits Game 7 With Achilles Injury
8:21 pm: ESPN’s Lisa Salters spoke to Haliburton’s father prior to the end of the first half and he confirmed that his son suffered an Achilles injury (Twitter video link).
The team will likely be conducting more tests to confirm the diagnosis, but if it’s an Achilles tear for Haliburton, it could cost him the entire 2025/26 season.
7:50 pm: Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton has exited Game 7 of the NBA Finals in the first quarter after sustaining a right lower leg injury (Twitter video link via ESPN). He won’t return to the game, according to the team.
With just over five minutes left in the first quarter on Sunday, Haliburton caught a pass outside the three-point line and made a move to drive toward the Thunder’s basket. However, his right leg gave way as he pushed off and he fell to the court, where he shouted in frustration and banged his fist against the floor. He was unable to put any weight on the leg as he was helped off the court.
Haliburton had been playing through a right calf strain that he suffered in Game 5 of the series. The injury likely would have sidelined him for multiple weeks had it occurred during the regular season, but he was determined to play through it and was able to finish out Game 5 and compete in Game 6 without any setbacks.
Playing through a calf strain generally increases the risk of suffering a major Achilles injury (ie. a tear) — that happened to Kevin Durant when he attempted to return early from a strained calf in the 2019 NBA Finals.
We don’t know that Haliburton injured his Achilles tonight and we’ll obviously be hoping for a best-case scenario, but video of the play and the guard’s reaction suggest the injury is a significant one, affecting that lower part of his right leg.
An All-NBA third-teamer during the regular season, Haliburton has made several huge game-winning shots for the Pacers during the playoffs, leading the way for the upstart club as it pulled off multiple upsets in the Eastern Conference bracket and pushed the 68-win Thunder to a Game 7 in Oklahoma City. If Indiana is going to win its first NBA championship on Sunday, the team will have to do it without its starting point guard.
NBA Finals Notes: Game 7, Thunder, Pacers, Predictions, More
Sunday’s Game 7 between the Thunder and Pacers is a “perfect coda” to an enthralling playoffs and an “all-time classic” NBA Finals, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic. It’s the first Game 7 in the Finals since 2016, when Cleveland came back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat Golden State.
“I’m very much looking forward to Game 7,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said (story via Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press). “The last time we’ve had one of these in the Finals, I think, was ’16. These are special moments certainly for both teams but for our league, for the game, for the worldwide interest in the game. It’s a time to celebrate.”
As Amick details, the 2025 postseason has had numerous high points, with aging stars facing off against their younger counterparts, high-level defense, game-winning shots — many from Tyrese Haliburton — and overall excellent play from teams in both conferences. Most of all, it has been a showcase of the depth and quality of league’s two best teams.
The Thunder were historically dominant during the regular season, with a 68-14 record and +12.7 net rating, and are one win away capping off an epic 2024/25 campaign. They swept Memphis in the first round, defeated Denver in seven games in the semifinal, then dispatched Minnesota in five in the West final.
Indiana, the underdog on one of the most memorable playoff runs in NBA history, started out 10-15, then went 40-17 the rest of regular season for a 50-32 record. With compelling late-game heroics, the Pacers dispatched Milwaukee in five games, 64-win Cleveland — the East’s top seed — in five, and New York, which beat defending champion Boston in round two, in six games.
The series has been a back-and-forth affair, with each team taking leads before the other equalized. Oklahoma City will be at home tonight after being blown out on the road in Game 6, which was the team’s first attempt to claim the title.
“It’s a contest of wills,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “I think the reason it swung between the two teams is because these are two teams that have leaned on that heavily to get to this point. It’s two teams where the whole is better than the sum of the parts. It’s two teams that are highly competitive. Two teams that play together. Two teams that kind of rely on the same stuff for their success that are squaring off against each other.”
Here are some more notes about Game 7:
- Eleven staff members from The Athletic predict who will win the series finale, with six choosing the Pacers and five votes for the Thunder. In our poll, nearly 54% of our readers have picked Oklahoma City to win thus far.
- Several NBA insiders at ESPN.com compiled a list of “everything you need to know” about the Game 7 showdown, including the keys to winning for both teams, the Finals MVP contenders, the players who could swing the game, and more. Eight ESPN employees also predicted who would win — seven selected the Thunder, with only one picking the Pacers.
- No matter which team emerges victorious, the NBA will crown its seventh different champion in as many seasons. The league has been seeking parity for years, notes Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic, and this year’s playoffs have shown that small-market clubs like Oklahoma City and Indiana can reach the pinnacle of the sport.
- The Pacers are seeking their first NBA title in franchise history, while the Thunder are looking for their first championship since moving to Oklahoma City in 2008, the league noted in a press release (Twitter link). This will be the 20th Game 7 in NBA Finals history.
Pacers Notes: Haliburton, Siakam, Game 6 Strategy
The Pacers weren’t sure if they would have Tyrese Haliburton for Game 6 due to a strained right calf, but there are no worries heading into Sunday’s series finale at Oklahoma City, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. Haliburton is still getting around-the-clock treatment on the calf, but he vowed at Saturday’s media session that he’ll be in the lineup.
“I’m pretty much in the same standpoint I was before Game 6,” Haliburton said. “A little stiff, a little sore, rather. Good thing I only had to play like 23 minutes (on Thursday). I’ve been able to get even more treatment and do more things. Just trying to take care of it the best I can. But I’ll be ready to go for Game 7.”
Trainers said Haliburton may have been sidelined for a couple of weeks if the injury had happened during the season, but he underwent extensive medical procedures and wore a compression sleeve to stabilize the calf area. He explained that he feels an obligation to his teammates and can’t stand the thought of letting them down.
“We’re a group of guys that get along really well and are trying to do something special,” Haliburton said. “I think the expectations for this group from an external viewpoint coming into the year weren’t very high. They weren’t very high coming into the playoffs. They weren’t very high going into the second round of the playoffs. They weren’t very high going into the third round. They weren’t very high now. I think we just have done a great job of just staying together. There’s not a group of guys I’d rather go to war with. I’m really excited to compete with these guys in a Game 7, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
There’s more on the Pacers:
- An odd sight before Game 6 was a shot of Pascal Siakam in a team huddle where only the whites of his eyes were visible (Twitter video link). Siakam explained what happened, telling reporters he was in the middle of a pregame prayer, Dopirak adds in a separate story. “I have this problem where I can’t really close my eyes,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll be thinking I’m closing my eyes, but they are not really closed. Even sometimes having conversations, sometimes I look up and it feels like I’m thinking, and my eyes just go up.”
- Coach Rick Carlisle flummoxed the Thunder in Game 6 by scaling back the pressure defense he had used throughout the series, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic. Instead of attacking OKC’s ball-handlers, the Pacers waited to trap until they crossed mid-court, minimizing their chances of creating easy baskets.
- The Pacers may not have the star power of a traditional champion, but they’ve been able to work together to reach the brink of an NBA title, observes James Boyd of The Athletic. From their stars to the end of their bench, the Pacers are loaded with players who have been forced to prove themselves again and again. “We have a group of people that probably wasn’t given anything,” Siakam said. “We’re in a situation where, at the end of the day, nobody really cares to see us win.”