Indiana Pacers
With T.J. Warren being out for the season with a foot injury, a lot of the Pacers’ potential playoff hopes and slim championship aspirations have slowly begun to disappear. Indiana has been a very up-and-down team all season long in large part because of some key injuries, but without Warren, this team could end up missing the playoffs this year, which would be a major disappointment.
Both Malcolm Brogdon and Domantas Sabonis have been playing at a high-level all season long and with Caris LeVert returning to action a week or two ago, the Pacers finally have what will be their full rotation moving forward for the rest of the season, but they had a chance to add onto what they had to lock up their playoff spot.
The Pacers did not make any moves at the NBA trade deadline this year, which could end up hurting them in the grand scheme of things, especially if they do not make the playoffs. The Pacers are currently two games up on the Bulls for the 9-seed in the East, four games up on the Raptors and five games up on both the Cavaliers and Wizards, but with their overall inconsistent play and ability to blow leads in the fourth quarter of games this year, these teams could easily make up a lot of ground on the Pacers.
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They definitely have a playoff caliber roster and they have All-Star-like talents in Sabonis and Brogdon to be able to carry the load for this team, but the Pacers will really have to lock-in over the last several weeks of the season to get to where they want to be.
Even if they do make the playoffs, the Pacers probably will not make it out of the first-round, which is why they should have been buyers at this year’s NBA trade deadline and will likely regret their decision not to be. They will be a team to watch in NBA trade rumors in the offseason.
