How the Indiana Pacers can Improve in the 2025 NBA Draft After Finals Loss

The Indiana Pacers are coming off an impressive two-year run.

After reaching the Eastern Conference Finals in 2024, Tyrese Haliburton and company took their success a step further this season, making a run to the NBA Finals. Not only did the Pacers get to the championship series, Indiana went toe-to-toe with a 68-win team that had been dubbed one of the best in recent memory.

Even after Haliburton suffered an unfortunate injury, Rick Carlisle's team put up a solid fight against OKC, never backing down and keeping themselves within striking distance for a large portion of the contest.

Now, the team will look to improve over the offseason, and will have the opportunity to begin doing so in just a few days. With the NBA Draft set for Wednesday, June 25, the Pacers will have just a few days to prepare for the event.

At the moment, Indiana owns just one pick, No. 54 overall, after a recent trade with New Orleans sent the No. 23 overall pick in this year's classs to the Pelicans. Of course, the Pacers could elect to trade back into the first round, but the team could also find a potential contributor in the second round.

Finding solid role players that deep into the draft can be difficult, but players like Aaron Wiggins, Lu Dort and TJ McConnell would have all been available at No. 54 overall in their draft classes.

For Indiana, the No. 54 overall selection would be a good opportunity for the team to add more size, or another ball handler. While the team's rotation of Myles Turner and Obi Toppin was solid against OKC, players like Tony Bradley and Thomas Bryant couldn't give the team good enough minutes off the bench.

A recent mock draft from NBA Draft on SI saw the Pacers select Kentucky big man Amari Williams at No. 54 overall, giving the team another option in the frontcourt.

In his lone season at Kentucky after four years at Drexel, Williams averaged 10.9 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 56.1% from the field. Listed at 6-foot-10 and 227 pounds, Williams isn't a threat from beyond the arc at this point in his career, but still offers good size and a versatile skill set down low.