Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers went on a surprising run in last season’s playoffs. They reached the Eastern Conference Finals where they were swept by the eventual champion Boston Celtics. Despite being one of the final four teams left standing, Indiana hasn’t been talked about as being a contender in the 2024-25 season. The star point guard believes his Pacers are being overlooked in the Eastern Conference hierarchy.
Pacers Star Believes His Team Is Being Overlooked In The East
Pacers Not Expected By Many To Repeat Last Season’s Success
The 24-year-old Haliburton is currently on Team USA’s roster for the Paris Olympics. The two-time All-Star spoke with GQ’s Andrew Greif about how Indiana seems to be getting overlooked in the Eastern Conference.
“All I keep seeing is, ‘Who’s going to win the East? Boston, Milwaukee, New York, or Philly?’” Haliburton said. “It’s like, what are we doing [not being included]? But again, we’re Indiana, people didn’t even know, people didn’t even watch us play until the playoffs. People didn’t watch us play until the second round. But again, that respect comes with winning. So if we want to gain that respect, we just got to keep having success as a team. And it’s coming.”
He is correct about the Pacers not receiving much love as few this offseason think they will get as far in next year’s playoffs. Indiana only has tied for the seventh-best odds to win the Eastern Conference according to DraftKings Sportsbook. Not only do the four teams Haliburton mentioned have better odds, but so do the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers. Indiana’s +2500 odds are the same as the Orlando Magic.
The Pacers team mostly remains the same as the one that reached the Eastern Conference Finals. They re-signed Pascal Siakam and Obi Toppin. Jalen Smith signed with the Chicago Bulls, but he was mostly outside the postseason rotation. Indiana took a flyer on former second-overall pick James Wiseman by signing him in free agency.
Other Teams In The East Have Seemingly Improved
While everyone is chasing Boston, the Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks both made a major move to try to gain ground on the defending champs. Philadelphia added Paul George in free agency giving them quite the formidable trio along with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. The Knicks continued their affinity for Villanova players by acquiring Mikal Bridges in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets.
The Milwaukee Bucks haven’t changed much other than losing Malik Beasley and replacing him with Gary Trent Jr. Perhaps having a full training camp and season with Doc Rivers behind the bench will help. Boston didn’t feel an urgency to improve after a dominant 2023-24 season. They return everyone who played meaningful minutes in last season’s playoffs.
In the opening round last season, Indiana faced a Bucks team without Giannis Antetokounmpo for the whole series (also without Damian Lillard for two games). They went seven games next series against a Knicks team missing Julius Randle (also without OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson for the majority of the series). Haliburton is correct in saying that respect will come with more winning, which in turn, will quiet the doubters.
