Which Playoff Seed Should Pacers Expect This Season?

How High of Playoff Seed Will Pacers Be Fighting For?

Indiana is one of the harder teams to peg a prediction for this year, simply because of a handful of moving parts – Haliburton coming off an injury, Zubac fitting with this system, and the many talented role players of NBA Finals past still holding up just as well in a league that's changed two years later.

Still, the Pacers are as hungry as any entering the season, and looking at the situation glass half-full would show you a Finals team finally healthy again after a year of injuries and agony with three stars, an elite coach, plenty of depth that buys in and plays hard in an up-and-down spread-pick-and-roll style of play that should roll right into consistent good shot creation.

Because the East got stronger around them, I have the Pacers penciled into the play-in range of 7-10 seed, but all it takes is a few things breaking Indiana's way to be fighting for home court advantage.

The Pacers should expect to secure a play-in spot. The East looks like it will be extremely tough this season. A team like the Pacers will have their work cut out for them to finish in the top six.

A large part of their success will be determined by how much Tyrese Haliburton plays and thrives. If he is on the court consistently and looks like he did in the 2024-25 regular season, the ceiling becomes much higher.

Given the talent this team has, it’s hard to imagine them finishing below 10th with Haliburton back. Haliburton and the Pacers could find themselves in the top six, but the more realistic ceiling entering the season is a seventh-place finish.

The highly anticipated return of Tyrese Haliburton should help propel the Pacers to a better finish than last season’s 19-63 record. The issue is that the Eastern Conference is a different beast from when Haliburton helped lead the team to an NBA Finals appearance in 2025.

The Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, and Detroit Pistons have greatly improved, while the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, and New York Knicks should all still be expected to remain serious playoff contenders. It will be an uphill battle trying to reassert conference dominance, though a spot in the Play-In Tournament is well within reach.

When evaluating the Pacers season, it gets tricky. I do believe that people are discounting them greatly, but also feel the East is tough. Personally, I’d expect the Pacers to be one of the eight teams to make the playoffs, but the question is more, how?

Depending on health of not just their team, but others, I could realistically see the Pacers anywhere from 5th all the way to 9th. No matter their seed, I do expect them to pose a threat in the playoffs.