Indiana Pacers on #1 pick watch

[TheGOATRises007]

Shutdown Siakam, Mathurin and Nembhard for the season and re-group next year.

Why would the players agree to not play for an entire season?

[mkot]

Shutdown Siakam, Mathurin and Nembhard for the season and re-group next year.

Mathurin needs more rep, let him play when healthy, let him put up some numbers and build confidence. Sit Siakam and Nembhard and let the slam dunk guy be their entertainment and tank commander.

[TravisScott55]

Raptors owned that pick (top 4 protected) and traded it for Brandon Ingram. That Masai firing was 100% justified.

[Bad-Thoma]

I hate tanking and I hate it even more that fans are talking about tanking 4 games into the season.

Been seeing Nets fans talk about it too. Shameful

Some fanbases lack pride in winning/competition. The prefer to roll over at the first sign of adversity.

More accurately it's a segment of every fan base. I don't think it's a lack of pride thing though, it's usually the same people that are impatient for rookies to play heavy minutes and the people that are in love with player movement. I.e. the kind of people who are naturally drawn to RealGM. I think they see player and team development as much more black and white than it really is.

[RHODEY]

I hate tanking and I hate it even more that fans are talking about tanking 4 games into the season.

Been seeing Nets fans talk about it too. Shameful

Some fanbases lack pride in winning/competition. The prefer to roll over at the first sign of adversity.

More accurately it's a segment of every fan base. I don't think it's a lack of pride thing though, it's usually the same people that are impatient for rookies to play heavy minutes and the people that are in love with player movement. I.e. the kind of people who are naturally drawn to RealGM. I think they see player and team development as much more black and white than it really is.

Thats correct, its a segment, thanks for the correction.

[jowglenn]

Raptors owned that pick (top 4 protected) and traded it for Brandon Ingram. That Masai firing was 100% justified.

And then the Pelicans traded it back to the Pacers in exchange for the Pacers 2025 pick, which was #23.

Five days later Tyrese Haliburton went down in game 7. Incredible timing by the Pacers on that trade.

[Mr Peanut]

Thought it may have been mentioned by now but just before Haliburton went down in the Finals the Pelicans, who owned the Pacers unprotected 2026 first, traded it back to the Pacers to get their 2025 pick instead (#23). That 2026 pick now may well end up being top 5.

So let me get this straight.

The Pelicans traded a 2026 Indiana first back to Indiana, which may very well become a top 5 pick.
The Pelicans traded their own 2026 first to Atlanta, which may well become a top 5 pick.
So the Pelicans owned two picks that could end up top 5 picks in a, from what we know now, pretty good draft, but they now have zero.

I feel bad for Pelicans fans.

Edit:
Not only that, the 2025 first they got back from Indiana was used in the same trade with Atlanta. Boy, Derik Queen better turns out to be a superstar.

Yes, terrible asset management in two consecutive trades in a short timeframe. Pistons fans dealt with Troy Weaver for 4 years and Dumars for a lot longer so it's not as surprising to us but still pretty bad.

Thought it may have been mentioned by now but just before Haliburton went down in the Finals the Pelicans, who owned the Pacers unprotected 2026 first, traded it back to the Pacers to get their 2025 pick instead (#23). That 2026 pick now may well end up being top 5.

This not even a hindsight thing, even at draft night we all knew that was one of the worst draft night trades in past decade. Especially, like above poster added, how they dealt their own they got back to Atlanta same night.

Just to be clear the Pelicans/Pacers trade wasn't made on draft night. Happened during the Finals a few days before Haliburton tore his Achilles.

[Hoop Hunter]

8 guys out tonight. Of course Haliburton out for the season.

Nemhard, Mathurin, starting back court. TJ backup PG out a month. Cam Jones 3rd string PG.

Toppin out a month, Furphy was backing Nesmith and Mathurin. Taelon Peter was backing Math.

Two 2-way G League guy playing heavy minutes now.

[Warspite]

None of these 1 and done players will be able to contribute for years to come.

[canada_dry]

Do they own their pick?

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

[Chuck Everett]

Do they own their pick?

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

Yes.

[Hoop Hunter]

This is what the Pacers depth chart may look like tomorrow with all the injuries. What a joke.

Still no timetable on Nembhard, Mathurin is week to week, Obi is out at least a month. McConnell is probably a month as well. Wild.

Of the Pacers top 10 players last year, only Siakam and Nesmith are currently available.

PG: RayJ Dennis, Mac McClung
SG: Ben Sheppard, Quenton Jackson
SF: Aaron Nesmith
PF: Pascal Siakam, Jarace Walker
C: Tony Bradley, Isaiah Jackson, Jay Huff

Injured:
Nembhard, Mathurin, Obi, TJ, Peter, Jones, Furphy, Hali

This is wild. Never seen anything like it. Us Pacer fans have seen a lot of weird **** and injuries over the years.

I can't believe some of the comments in this thread. We had no intentions tanking. All this just happened. We're not keeping anyone out on purpose.

We could still be good with everyone healthy, but Hali. We could still be top 6. Now with these possible long injuries who knows.

They may have to reevaluate the season in a month or two.

[westbricc]

New Orleans would like a word.

[Wolveswin]

New Orleans would like a word.

Nah. Nets say hold my beer. They haven’t sniffed a win and their best player - who is injury prone - has been healthy. Wait til they too have to face the injury bug like other winless teams. We may see the NBA relegate its first team and give a G league team a chance to be more competitive than Nets.

[durden_tyler]

I hate tanking and I hate it even more that fans are talking about tanking 4 games into the season.

Been seeing Nets fans talk about it too. Shameful

Some fans are just smarter than you, and that's okay.

[ReggiesKnicks]

New Orleans would like a word.

Nah. Nets say hold my beer. They haven’t sniffed a win and their best player - who is injury prone - has been healthy. Wait til they too have to face the injury bug like other winless teams. We may see the NBA relegate its first team and give a G league team a chance to be more competitive than Nets.

Yup. The Nets perfectly constructed a roster of talented, offense-slanted pieces with a ton of rookies. It is a work of art.

[JujitsuFlip]

New Orleans would like a word.

Pelicans traded their 2026 1st round pick to the Hawks. So a more accurate statement is Atlanta would like a word (via New Orleans).

[Shaka_Zulu]

Thought it may have been mentioned by now but just before Haliburton went down in the Finals the Pelicans, who owned the Pacers unprotected 2026 first, traded it back to the Pacers to get their 2025 pick instead (#23). That 2026 pick now may well end up being top 5.

So let me get this straight.

The Pelicans traded a 2026 Indiana first back to Indiana, which may very well become a top 5 pick.
The Pelicans traded their own 2026 first to Atlanta, which may well become a top 5 pick.
So the Pelicans owned two picks that could end up top 5 picks in a, from what we know now, pretty good draft, but they now have zero.

I feel bad for Pelicans fans.

Edit:
Not only that, the 2025 first they got back from Indiana was used in the same trade with Atlanta. Boy, Derik Queen better turns out to be a superstar.

Yes, terrible asset management in two consecutive trades in a short timeframe. Pistons fans dealt with Troy Weaver for 4 years and Dumars for a lot longer so it's not as surprising to us but still pretty bad.

Thought it may have been mentioned by now but just before Haliburton went down in the Finals the Pelicans, who owned the Pacers unprotected 2026 first, traded it back to the Pacers to get their 2025 pick instead (#23). That 2026 pick now may well end up being top 5.

This not even a hindsight thing, even at draft night we all knew that was one of the worst draft night trades in past decade. Especially, like above poster added, how they dealt their own they got back to Atlanta same night.

Just to be clear the Pelicans/Pacers trade wasn't made on draft night. Happened during the Finals a few days before Haliburton tore his Achilles.

Oh yeah, I remember the talk of the time was why they busy doing draft pick trades while in grueling final series. Remember similar remarks when Nuggets was in finals and were doing random draft pick trades.

[Karate Diop]

Nets have the worst record in the league wrapped up. Don't even try Indy. There's levels to this.

[BrianInPhilly]

As someone who like the Pacers there was no way they were going to realistically compete this year even get a top 6. Losing Hali & Turner, and really not replacing them at all was/is a huge blow. Plus it’s very hard to get to the finals and then still play up to par next season. Even last year this wasn’t a super talented team that can just coast at times. Shortened offseason makes it difficult to really maximize next season esp given the lack of talent on the roster without Haliburton and Turner.