Pacers’ ideal scenario following the Pascal Siakam trade for the 2024 NBA trade deadline.

One of the two Eastern Conference teams that benefited from the Toronto Raptors midseason fire sale was the Indiana Pacers. Pascal Siakam, a two-time NBA All-Star, was acquired by the team from Bruce Brown, Kira Lewis Jr., Jordan Nwora, and multiple first-round picks. The Pacers’ unexpected and thrilling run to the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament Finals, which came just over a month after Siakam’s acquisition, sent a message to the rest of the league that, despite not being invited into the Eastern Conference’s elite teams, they were the one outside team that none of those teams would want to play in a postseason series. Now, the question is:

While it may not be part of the Pacers’ “dream scenario” at the trade deadline, Indiana’s performance over the next four days is meaningless without a healthy Tyrese Haliburton. Their position would not improve even if they were to extract 1994 Reggie Miller from a time machine, any more than it would with a healthy Haliburton.

The Pacers All-Star point guard missed ten games following a frightening-looking hamstring injury he sustained on January 8th during a home loss to the Boston Celtics. Haliburton hasn’t appeared in court in a while, and he’s expressed his displeasure with the minutes restriction. What’s even more annoying for both Pacers supporters and Haliburton is that in his absence, we’ve only seen a

If the Pacers have a successful trade deadline, Indiana won’t have to make another potentially franchise-changing trade in 2024. It might simply indicate that the teams in the standings above them—at the moment, Boston, Milwaukee, Cleveland, New York, and Philadelphia—stay the same and don’t significantly improve their rosters. The 76ers and Knicks, who were both rumored to be among the buyers at the trade deadline, may decide to play it more cautiously in light of Joel Embiid and Julius Randle’s recent injuries. Although Cleveland has been playing well lately, I doubt they will make any major moves either because of Donovan Mitchell’s uncertain future.