The Indiana Pacers just went through a rough 2025-2026 NBA season in the absence of their star guard, Tyrese Haliburton.
As injuries piled up beyond the All-Star, the Pacers’ odds of potentially landing the top pick in the 2026 NBA Draft increased by the game.
The Pacers finished 14th in the Eastern Conference with a 19-63 record. The Washington Wizards were the only team worse off, holding a 17-65 record.
Indiana was one of a few teams holding 14.0% odds of picking up No. 1 overall, and had an over 50.0% chance of getting within the top four. Anything beyond that would mean losing the selection to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Unfortunately, that was the Pacers’ reality.
Tyrese Haliburton Reacts To Losing The Top Pick
Haliburton took to social media to simply share a clip of Lil Uzi Vert saying, “I lost.”
That was hours after Haliburton put out a post telling TJ McConnell, the Pacers’ representative at the lottery, to “get it done.”
The Pacers did a lot of losing in 2025-2026, and they won’t reap the benefits as the Los Angeles Clippers will hold their fifth-overall pick next month.
The Pacers Can Bounce Back
While it was a difficult season to stomach for the Pacers, they plan to be back in contention within the Eastern Conference in 2026-2027.
Tyrese Haliburton at his best can have the Pacers looking like championship contenders. After all, he went down with a torn Achilles in the final game of the NBA Finals. Before that playoff run, the Pacers were in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The 26-year-old out of Iowa State started his career with the Sacramento Kings. He quickly established himself as one of the top young prospects in the league after getting selected 12th overall pick.
The Kings used Haliburton as bait in the trade for Domantas Sabonis in 2021-2022. Once Haliburton ended up on the Pacers, he helped turn them from one of the worst teams in the East to contenders.
During Haliburton’s latest run with the Pacers, he posted averages of 18.6 points, 9.2 assists, and 3.5 rebounds. In his second playoff run with the team, Haliburton averaged 17.3 points, 8.6 assists, and 5.3 rebounds in 23 games.