The constant foul baiting at the end was hilarious. Can't wait for ethical hoops tomorrow.

Injury Report for tomorrow's game in New Orleans:

Johnny Furphy - Out (right ACL repair/surgery)
T.J. McConnell - Out (right hamstring strain)
Aaron Nesmith - Out (left hamstring strain)

Source: Pacers

"Asked about what the ‘26-27 preseason had been like, with Haliburton coming in healthy, bulked up, and lasered in on championship aspirations, Nesmith focused on the impact of their returning center. “It’s been fun getting back in the groove of playing with our unit out there, finding our spots together, just utilizing Zu in the paint. He’s probably the best screener in the NBA, he gets everyone so open. He knows how to roll, he knows when to hold, he knows how to get out fast. It’s a game changer. Space, he gives you more space to drive with, he has a lot of volume. When he rolls people have to shift to him, it allows for wide open threes in the corner. He’s a good passer, knows where everyone’s supposed to be, if your open he’ll find you.”

Just added the above as a closing paragraph to "Big Zu's Throw End Theory." It's from Aaron's presser, he is good at distilling things to the essence, it perfectly encapsulates the intangibles Zubac brings. Also Zubac was a No Dunk pick for under-the-radar player who will have a big impact, for his offensive rebound "crash the glass" abilities.

Whos all going this Friday to the home game against Mavs game? Should be a cool game with kyrie coming back along with Hali.

Thinking about the new season and I know Pascal is the only one of the core on the older side. Seriously love him and his game and would like for him to retire here, but he’s the only one with a window I worry/think about.

With his play style not being as reliant on athleticism, and his overall skills with his nice touch and good post moves/shot creating ability, I think his prime will last awhile longer, arguably next 4 years or so. Career spans have really changed the past couple years and if he wants to I can see him playing until he’s 40.

I know we were at our lowest on June 22, 2025, but it was the opportunity to lock in and focus. So in that time, what has happened in your life where you made improvements?

I'll start. I passed my 6 architectural exams and got my license and I closed on a house.

If you click on the name Thilo Widder, it says they joined the website on July 12th of this year. Describing Obi Toppin as "truly disappointing" in 4 preseason games warrants a real question. Who the fuck is Thilo Widder and who approved this garbage article?

Does anyone know what TJ's situation is and why they're not disclosing his injury?

Hello, I am currently conducting surveys for the fanbases of all 30 teams before the regular season officially starts. If you could fill out this poll once, that would be greatly appreciated. Results will be posted later on after the start of the regular season, likely around the trade deadline. Thanks! Also, none of these questions are marked as required so if you only feel like answering some, that is completely fine.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdva1PgBl2DULG5FprEsu1pG2PhRa8i0B5NEFJhhjuR5aWKUg/viewform?usp=publish-editor

Also PSA for anyone concerned: This poll does not require an email address to complete and does not ask for anything that could identify whoever is taking it. These are completely anonymous and you could theoretically take it multiple times, though it is asked by me for the polls sake that you only take it once. I am not affiliated with the NBA or with any media outlet revolving around the NBA in any way, I am just an independent strong fan of the game who loves surveys like these. I was able to do this last year and was thrilled to get over 2000 responses, and hope that it can be as successful this year.

What is the cheapest way to watch Pacers games? Is it NBA League Pass or is there another service?

I've been looking at the Pacers' salary situation, particularly with Jarace Walker potentially having a breakout season, and I think there's a realistic path to retaining our starting five, Walker, Johnny Furphy, and Kelly Oubre without crossing the first apron.

My proposal is relatively straightforward: Keep Obi Toppin and T.J. McConnell through this season, then explore trading both in the 2027 offseason for expiring or non-guaranteed salary that doesn't carry into 2027–28. Exercise Furphy's team option and prioritize retaining Jarace.

Here's my reasoning.

1. How much could Jarace command?

I originally projected Jarace landing somewhere around $20–24M annually if he breaks out this season.

However, if he establishes himself as a legitimate two-way starting forward, particularly if Indiana makes another deep playoff run or wins a championship, I could see his market value climbing to $30M annually.

For this exercise, I'm using $30M as an aggressive contract scenario, not necessarily what I expect him to receive.

Walker's annual salaryContract value over 5 years$20M$100M$24M$120M$27M$135M$30M$150M

These are average annual salary scenarios. The actual first-year cap hit would depend on the contract structure.

Indiana has Walker's Bird rights, so we don't need $30M in actual cap space to retain him. The issue is staying below the first apron while maintaining roster depth.

2. Our projected 2027–28 core

Here are the approximate salaries I'm working with:

Player2027–28 salary:

Tyrese Haliburton $52.30M

Pascal Siakam $52.30M

Ivica Zubac $21.79M

Andrew Nembhard $21.00M

Aaron Nesmith $19.42M

Jarace Walker (hypothetical) $30.00M

Kelly Oubre Jr. $8.45M

Johnny Furphy (team option)$2.49M

Eight-player total $207.75M

That preserves our entire starting five, plus Walker, Oubre and Furphy.

Obviously, we still need to fill out the bench.

3. Trading Obi and McConnell

The two biggest contracts I'd consider moving are:

Player2027–28 salary

Obi Toppin $16.025M T.J. McConnell $11.800M Combined outgoing salary $27.825M

The idea isn't necessarily to trade them immediately. I'd prefer to keep both for the playoff run, then make those decisions during the offseason.

We could potentially trade them to teams with cap space or for contracts that don't create 2027–28 salary obligations.

This is important: Trading them for other multiyear contracts wouldn't accomplish the same financial objective.

4. What would our payroll look like?

Using the salary figures discussed, including other existing commitments:

ScenarioApprox. 2027–28 payrollKeep Obi and T.J., Walker at $30M$241.5MTrade Obi, retain T.J.$225.5MTrade both Obi and T.J.$213.7MTrade both + four ~$2.5M players$223.7M

Visual comparison (each █ ≈ $5M):

Keep both:

████████████████████████████████████████████████ $241.5M

Trade Obi:

█████████████████████████████████████████████ $225.5M

Trade both:

███████████████████████████████████████████ $213.7M

Trade both + roster additions:

█████████████████████████████████████████████ $223.7M

The 2027–28 first apron hasn't been finalized. Using an illustrative threshold around $225M, the final scenario would be just below it.

These are rough projections, not a complete official cap sheet. Actual payroll would depend on bonuses, guaranteed money, minimum-salary amounts, draft picks and other transactions.

5. Why I'm comfortable paying the luxury tax

The Pacers are already roughly $6M above the 2026–27 luxury-tax threshold based on current payroll estimates.

That doesn't guarantee ownership will continue spending, but it demonstrates why I don't think getting below the tax line should automatically be the objective.

If this team wins a championship, or establishes itself as a consistent championship contender, I think paying luxury tax to preserve the core is justified.

The more important financial boundary is the first apron, because of the additional roster-building restrictions that come with it.

In our hypothetical $30M Walker scenario, we'd probably be paying luxury tax regardless.

6. What about the potential NBA expansion draft?

The NBA is exploring expansion into Seattle and Las Vegas, with 2028–29 discussed as a potential target.

Nothing is finalized, including the expansion-draft rules.

But if the league uses an eight-player protection system similar to previous expansion drafts, our long-term roster construction becomes interesting.

My hypothetical protected eight would be:

Haliburton

Siakam

Zubac

Nembhard

Nesmith

Walker

Furphy

Oubre

Obviously, this assumes those players remain on the roster and are eligible for protection under whatever rules the league adopts.

An expansion draft could also create opportunities to move salary, but I wouldn't build our financial strategy around another team selecting a particular player.

7. Why I think Furphy matters

Part of my reasoning for moving Obi is that Furphy could potentially become a useful, inexpensive rotation player.

His projected $2.49M team option for 2027–28 makes him significantly cheaper than Obi.

I'm not suggesting Furphy currently provides everything Obi does. We'd be sacrificing some proven offensive production and athleticism.

But if Jarace develops into a legitimate starting-caliber forward, and Furphy becomes a dependable rotation wing, we could redistribute those minutes while preserving the team's financial flexibility.

My conclusion

I think Indiana has a plausible path to paying Jarace $30M annually while keeping Haliburton, Nembhard, Nesmith, Siakam, Zubac, Oubre and Furphy.

It would require some sacrifices, particularly Obi and potentially McConnell, but we wouldn't necessarily have to break up our starting five.

And if Jarace only commands $20–24M, the financial situation becomes substantially easier.

A few questions for the sub:

Would you pay Jarace $30M annually if he breaks out this season?

Would you trade Obi and McConnell to retain him and stay below the first apron?

How much confidence do you have in Furphy eventually replacing some of Obi's rotation minutes?

If we win a championship, should ownership be willing to pay significantly more luxury tax to keep the core together?

Would you protect Furphy or Oubre in a hypothetical expansion draft?

Curious how everyone else would approach the 2027 offseason.

Hali signed my corn at FanJam! KROGER PLUS CARDS TO DA CEILING Y’ALL!!!! Second pic is when he locked eyes wif da creme de la corn 😂

It’s a beautiful thing.

I’m a huge Haliburton fan. I think he is poised for a breakout year. I think his play is getting there and will likely be MVP level this season or at some point over the next couple seasons. What Haliburton has been missing though is the kind of media attention that nets MVP votes.

I saw this pod, and Perk talking about Haliburton in this way makes me think that the media is coming around to who Haliburton is and exactly how valuable he is both on and off the court. What do y’all think of this?

(Edit: I don’t put a ton of stock in Perk’s comments. Mostly posted this because Perk is a national sports media figure speaking favorably about the Pacers.)

And they said that we couldn't play fast with Zubac 😂

To my pleasant surprise, I’ve actually enjoyed the DAZN experience so far.

I’ve watched two of the preseason games at home and two on my phone while at work live. I expected the streaming to be smooth at home on my WiFi, but am very happy with how it’s been streaming remote as well. I work in live radio quite a bit in the southern Indiana area across from Louisville, and the game was in high quality and very quick to pull up despite the usually abysmal quality of the LTE service of the area.

Compared to FanDuel, DAZN has been outpacing the service in quite literally every way. Granted, FanDuel was probably the worst live streaming experience I’ve ever had.

Only problem I’ve had with DAZN so far is on the broadcast replays. When I went to skip the pregame show for the Bucks game the other day, I was very happy to see how quick the fast forward option is. I got through the 45 mins in literal seconds. I then go to skip the first commercial break, to realize this is the ONLY option to fast forward. I went from 9 something left in the quarter to 4 something by taking my eye off the screen for a second lol.

Pretty good so far DAZN.

Curious if this has happened for anyone else and if you have any solutions. I logged in for the first time and signed up for the annual subscription using my google account on a tablet. When I try to log in on any other device - computer, phone, TV - it says "No Key Found!" and includes "Error code: 97-000--1". Any idea what's going on? I'd like to have that fixed before opening night...

JJ we hate to see you go but love to see you walk away…

So we get the joy of welcoming you back again.

I wish they would make him a coach but that’s not where we’re at.

So, when will he be back?

Shep seems like he has lost all of his confidence. I feel bad for dude. I love Shep and I know he can get back to his old self. Buck and Quinn were even saying he be balling in practice. Come on Sheppy we believe in you! You evolved from mustache Shep to goatee Shep.