Breaking down the Pacers’ 2024-25 schedule, beginning Oct. 23 in Detroit
Breaking down the Pacers’ 2024-25 schedule, beginning Oct. 23 in Detroit
The NBA regular season runs from Oct. 22 to Apr. 13 and includes a stop in Paris for the Pacers coming off a 47-win season. League notes, back-to-backs, key home dates, games by day, and more.
The Indiana Pacers are ready to springboard last season’s success and show that they’re the real deal. The 2023-24 season was highlighted by a team that frequently rose above expecations.
They were only scheduled for one national TV game, yet they went 6-1 in the inaugural In-Season Tournament and advanced to the championship game. Then, as the No. 6 seed, they brought the franchise back to the postseason, captured their first playoff win in six years, and won a series for the first time in a decade.
After 47 wins last season, playoffs are no longer the goal; they are the expectation.
The Pacers will open up the 2024-25 season with three of their first four games on the road. It all begins at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Wednesday, Oct. 23rd. (They had opened at home against the Washington Wizards the last two seasons.)
That means the Pacers are also the visitors for two home openers, Detroit and New York.
And after their season opener against the Pistons, the Pacers face an early test with seven straight challenges: Knicks, 76ers, Magic, Celtics, Pelicans, Mavericks and Magic.
That’s a difficult first two weeks. Two of those seven (at Knicks, v Celtics) air nationally on ESPN.
And take note, their home opener is a Sunday matinee against the 76ers on Oct. 27. And it is directly competing with an NFL Sunday. The Colts play at the Houston Texans at 1 p.m. ET, then Pacers-76ers tips off at 3:30 p.m. ET.
The Pacers have an impressive 13 returning players, including their top five scorers from last season. They didn’t have a first-round pick, but they re-signed two key players in Pascal Siakam and Obi Toppin.
And there’s great anticipation to see Bennedict Mathurin back on the court after he missed the end of the season due to having season-ending shoulder surgery last March. He could become a real x-factor for this team that has a lot of positive things going for it already.
Andrew Nembhard is coming off a valuable run in the Paris Olympics with Team Canada, and Tyrese Haliburton — who begins Year 1 on his five-year max rookie deal — won a gold medal with Team USA.
The Pacers need for Haliburton to be rested and healthy after he suffered a left hamstring injury in early January; and then he was unable to play in Games 3 and 4 of the conference finals.
Like with the player roster, there’s continuity on the bench with the coaching staff. Head coach Rick Carlisle is entering Season 4 in his third stint with the franchise.
It’s the final year of the original four-year contract Carlisle agreed to when returning in June of 2021. But one year ago, the Pacers signed Carlisle and his assistant coaches to contract extensions before the season.
Indiana is now coming out of a rebuild and has increased its win total by double digits in each of the last two seasons under Carlisle & staff:
2021-22: 25
2023-24: 35
2023-24: 47
Their over/under for wins this season is 47.5 (+100), according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
The NBA officially unveiled the schedule on Thursday. Note: this is 80 of 82 games. Two more games — to be played Dec. 10-16 — will be announced later and depend on the team’s success in the NBA Cup.
Last season, the Pacers played 100 meaningful games. They played a total of 104 games, including exhibitions. (Four preseason, 82 regular-season games, one tournament championship and 17 playoff games.)
Single-game tickets go on sale on Oct. 2nd at 2 p.m. ET.
As of now, there’s no firm update on local TV given that Diamond Sports Group, the parent company to Bally Sports Indiana, is currently trying to emerge from bankruptcy court.
And now it’s time for my 13th annual breakdown of the schedule.
🏀 League-wide Notes
The NBA is entering its 79th season.
Opening night on TNT features Knicks at Celtics (ring night) and Timberwolves at Lakers.
FIVE games on Christmas: Spurs at Knicks, Timberwolves at Mavericks, 76ers at Celtics, Lakers at Warriors, Nuggets at Suns.
And they’ll have competition from the NFL for the second straight Christmas Day despite it falling on a Wednesday. Netflix, for the first time, will be airing Chiefs at Steelers, then Ravens at Texans.
All-Star Break: Feb. 14-19. Coming off last year’s All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis, this year’s marquee NBA event will be held in The Bay Area (San Francisco, Oakland).
No games on Election Day — Tuesday, Nov. 5 — for the third straight season.
The NBA is continuing Rivals Week from Jan. 21-25 with 10 nationally televised games, though, again, I’d argue there aren’t many rivalries in the league anymore. The Pacers will be over in Paris to play the Spurs twice that week.
The league’s network partners will have flexible scheduling — and I hope they utilize it more. Especially later in the season when teams are hit by injuries.
All 30 teams will once again play their final regular-season game on Sunday, April 13. The Eastern Conference teams will play at 1 p.m. ET, followed by the Western Conference teams at 3:30 p.m.
The NBA Finals will begin on Thursday, June 5th.
🗓️ Preseason Dates
The preseason schedule trickled out last week and is now confirmed by the Pacers. (Individual teams line up their exhibition slate, not the NBA.)
Tuesday, Oct. 8 at Atlanta Hawks, 7:30 p.m. ET
Thursday, Oct. 10 at Cleveland Cavaliers, 7 p.m. ET
Monday, Oct. 14 v Memphis Grizzlies, 7 p.m. ET
Thursday, Oct. 17 v Charlotte Hornets, 7 p.m. ET
I like how the Pacers have handled this schedule under Carlisle. Two on the road, then two at home and a week before the season opener.
🏆 In-Season Tournament
Before the regular-season schedule was announced, the NBA first released the NBA Cup schedule to bring attention to it. The NBA designated Tuesdays and Fridays in November to be only Cup Games — and you can read all about it here.
They’re in East Group B with the Bucks, Heat, Pistons and Raptors.
Friday, Nov. 15 v Miami Heat, 7 p.m. ET
Friday, Nov. 22 at Milwaukee Bucks, 7:30 p.m. ET | ESPN
Friday, Nov. 29 v Detroit Pistons, 8 p.m. ET
Tuesday, Dec. 3 at Toronto Raptors, 7:30 p.m. ET
TBD
TBD
🇫🇷 Paris Trip
The Pacers will play their first games overseas since a preseason trip to Mumbai, India pre-pandemic to face the Sacramento Kings in 2019.