Pacers First NBA Team Eliminated From Postseason Contention

The Pacers became the first NBA team formally eliminated from postseason contention after they lost at Sacramento on Tuesday night and Charlotte picked up a victory in Portland, tweets Tony East of Circle City Spin.

Indiana has lost 10 straight games and is currently 15-50, the worst record in the league (Sacramento improved to 16-50 with the win). Charlotte holds the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference at 33-33, and since the Pacers only have 17 games remaining, they have no way to make up the deficit.

As Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star writes (subscription required), the Pacers were up 20 points with 4:58 remaining in the third quarter, but struggled the rest of the way. This is just the 10th time in the past 37 seasons that Indiana won’t make the playoffs.

“Crazy game,” Carlisle said. “End of the third quarter obviously was a big problem for us and their bench just played an unbelievable last 15 minutes of the game. Just tremendous. So you gotta give them a lot of credit. Their shot-making and aggression — all that — was big-time. We had some pretty good looks. They didn’t go in. That was disappointing. We did an awful lot of good things in the first 2 1/2 quarters, but unfortunately the last 18 minutes count.”

The Pacers have been decimated by injuries throughout the season, Dopirak notes, but the loss benefited them in the sense that they now have the best odds in the league at landing a top-four pick. That’s noteworthy, since the 2026 pick they traded to the Clippers for Ivica Zubac is top-four (and 10-30) protected.

The star of the game for the Kings was Devin Carter, who didn’t play at all in the first half, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. The 2024 lottery pick erupted for 22 points in the fourth quarter, finishing with a career-high 24 points, five rebounds and three assists in only 16 minutes of action.

“It felt great, especially my teammates trusting me, putting the ball in my hands,” Carter said. “They set me up for success, so it felt great.”

Carter admitted it’s been a tough season, as he hasn’t played much in year two. He has only made 27 appearances in 2025/26 and is averaging just 14.3 minutes per game.

“I haven’t been in the rotation much, so I wasn’t expecting too much,” Carter said. “Just trying to put my work in and stay ready.”

Carter has been ruled out of Tuesday’s game vs. Charlotte due to right calf soreness, Anderson tweets. Fellow guards Russell Westbrook (right quad contusion) and Malik Monk (right ankle soreness) will be sidelined as well.

Kings head coach Doug Christie voiced his opposition to tanking prior to Monday’s game, Dopirak adds.

“This is just me personally, I don’t mess with the game,” Christie said. “You do not mess with the game. You let the game do what it’s gonna do. There has to be a respect for the game and how you go about the game and how you play the game. In my opinion, stuff like that scars the players.

“How can I hold you accountable when there was a point where I was like, ‘Eh…’ You know, that’s just me. In many ways, we have to continuously protect our game and make sure that when we lace them up and we go out there, we’re giving our all always.”