Pacers tipped to reach greater heights in 2024-2025 season

A year after making the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in a decade , the Pacers seem primed to further establish themselves as an emerging powerhouse in the upcoming NBA season. However, the oddsmakers don't view it that way.

Entering the 2024-2025 season, the Pacers have the eighth-shortest odds of representing the East in the NBA Finals, behind the reigning champion Celtics, 76ers, Knicks, Bucks, Cavaliers, Magic and Heat.

The lack of faith in the Pacers is surprising to ESPN's Tim Legler, who believes Tyrese Haliburton and Co. will build on their momentum from last season to emerge as a top-four seed.

"I love the Indiana Pacers," Legler told "NBA Today" on Wednesday. "I love the roster. I like the fact that they retained all their key guys... Here's the thing: this team went to the conference finals a year ago, and I know they took advantage of injuries, but they also had an injury. Bennedict Mathurin is a player I loved coming out of of the draft. He was on his way, he was ascending, and turning into a 18-20 points scorer in this league. They get him back healthy, with the confidence they gained from the run they went on."

To Legler's point, the Pacers did capitalize on several injuries en route to their Eastern Conference Finals showdown against the Celtics. During the first round, they faced a Bucks team without Giannis Antetokounmpo and went on to clinch the series 4-2. Then, in the second round, they went up against a Knicks squad dealing with injuries to Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and OG Anunoby.

Regardless, the Pacers showed a ton of promise in their playoff run, especially with their ability to consistently score over 120 points on a nightly basis. The Pacers' pace-and-space style of basketball even left a lasting impression on Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, who recently declared that Indiana presented the "toughest challenge" to his team en route to their NBA championship win.

"That Indiana series was by far the toughest series, and we swept them, but it should have went seven," Mazzulla told Boston Sports Journal ahead of the Celtics' training camp.

The Pacers begin their 2024-2025 campaign against the Pistons on Oct. 23. Indiana is projected to win 46.5 games this season, a year after going 47-35 for the sixth seed.