Had the Pacers just had Lamb and Sabonis they probably would have beaten the Heat. Lamb would have been able defend the Miami’s long shooters and anytime you lose an all-star the team is going to suffer. That’s a nice hypothetical but the reality is the Pacers get swept out of the playoffs for the second straight year. They’ve now lost 9 straight games in the playoffs. What’s next for the Pacers?
Before the playoffs started the Pacers extended head coach Nate McMillan’s contract for at least another year. Indiana did struggle with injuries all year and the year was far from normal outside of that. It seemed the Pacers felt they needed to give McMillan another shot with this team.
Most of the players are still under contract for 2021. JaKarr Sampson and Justin Holiday are the only regular rotation players to not have contracts heading into next season with the Pacers. A lot of the team has deals running into 2022 as well (Brogdon, Turner, Warren, Lamb, Sabonis, Bitadze, Sumner and Aaron Holiday).
With the state of the current contracts it seems unlikely the Pacers will make much of a splash in free agency. The Pacers traded their first-round draft pick to the Bucks in the Malcolm Brogdon sign-and-trade deal, so if the Pacers are going to make any moves it will likely be a trade.
Trading Myles Turner has been talked about a lot. Many believe that Turner and Sabonis can’t work together. Will someone request a trade? Rumors have been swirling around Oladipo as well. Will he want out of Indy?
Getting swept out the playoffs in back-to-back years is not acceptable. You can only blame injuries for so long. Something is going to need to change for next season. If it doesn’t we could see a completely different team the following year.