Report: Rick Carlisle Agrees To a Multi-year Contract Extension With The Indiana Pacers

Carlisle, of course, played for Virginia back in the 1980s, helping lead the Cavaliers to the Final Four in 1984. He averaged 11.1 points and 2.9 assists per game for the Cavaliers before heading to the NBA as a third-round draft pick.

One of the most improbable runs ever

The unbelievable run started off with another first-round victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, including an incredible comeback in game five of that series. After sending Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks home, Indiana was a massive underdog against the No. 1 seeded Cleveland Cavaliers. The Pacers won game one on the road vs the Cavs and went on to handle them in five games, sending them to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second year in a row. Instead of matching up with the Boston Celtics, it was a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference Semifinals against the New York Knicks.

In unbelievable fashion, the Pacers pulled off another incredible comeback in game one against the Knicks and that set the tone for the rest of the series. Indiana scrapped with the Knicks for six games and came out on top, sending them to the NBA Finals for the first time in 25 years.

After pulling another incredible comeback in game against the 68-win Thunder, the Pacers showed that they were an underdog for the third straight series. It was one of the most entertaining NBA Finals in years, but it had a devastating ending. Who knows what would have happened had Hailburton stayed healthy, but that is a moot point now.

This was the eighth season for Carlisle with the Pacers, and he has compiled a 339-318 record during that time and has completely rebuilt this team in his image. He now has a playoff record of 41-34 with the Pacers, which includes this year's NBA Finals appearance and last year's Eastern Conference Finals appearance. For his career, Carlisle has a 993-860 record.

He was instrumental in the Pacers trading for star players Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam, the development of Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard into fantastic role players that fit their style of play perfectly, and for crafting a deep bench around his stars. This team has a frantic style of play and always seemed to make the right play at the right time. This team was knocking on the door of their first-ever NBA championship, but came up just short.

Next season is going to be tough for the former Cavalier since his team will be without Haliburton and Myles Turner, but I have a feeling that Carlisle is going to find a way to have his team in the mix,