After an exceptionally unproductive offseason, the Indiana Pacers are in an odd position going into this season. Tyrese Haliburton is returning, but the Pacers missed an opportunity to draft a big rookie to ride shotgun with him. That's going to make the trade deadline more important than ever.
2025-2026 became a lost season for Indiana. In game seven of the 2025 NBA Finals, Hlie fell to a torn right Achilles tendon. That not only cost him a season of his career, but it likely cost the Pacers a title. Haliburton being out opened the door for the Thunder to win a championship.
During the 2025 offseason, the Pacers then lost Myles Turner. The Lego-obsessed center had spent ten years with the team and seemed intent on retiring as a Pacer. Then, the front office fumbled him by making a lowball contract renewal offer that drove him all the way to Milwaukee.
Indiana then replaced Turner by trading a conditional first-round pick for Ivica Zubac. He's a different style of center than Turner, but a good one. Unfortunately, the conditions of that pick did not fall in the Pacers' favor. They missed out on one of the most stacked draft classes ever in 2026.
The Pacers must target the 2027 trade deadline to improve
After losing both Hali and Turner plus an almost impossible barrage of injuries, the Pacers went from the NBA Finals to being one of the worst teams in the league. Haliburton's return will help them climb back to relevance, but Indiana is going to need more than that if they want another Finals run.
In Haliburton's absence, the Eastern Conference has become far more competitive. Teams like the Heat, the 76ers, and the Raptors have made huge moves that will elevate them. Plus, the reigning champs are the Pacers' old nemesis, the New York Knicks. It's not the same game in the East.
That's what will make the Pacers' trade deadline moves so important this season. The front office needs to spend the first half evaluating what they have and what they need. After that, a proper trade deadline push will hopefully put Indiana in a place to become a force yet again.
This assumes that Hali will return to form after his injury and missing a whole season. More than a few players have never quite been the same after experiencing that. However this all plays out, Indiana needs to be ready to make real moves at the trade deadline if they want to compete in 2026-2027.
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