Pacers reach the end of 2025-26 with loss to Pistons, end worst-ever* season
63 losses later, it's all over.
INDIANAPOLIS – Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle spent his Saturday night at the Indianapolis Oldtimers Club at their annual banquet. He was a speaker in front of roughly 800 guys of varying ages. Carlisle recalled many of them being older. Some of them were in Pacers gear.
He thanked them for being fans, particularly during such a hard season. "I asked them if that get together... was to celebrate the fact that this year was finally going to be over tonight," Carlisle said, jokingly, of the event before Sunday's Pacers game against the Pistons. "They insisted that that wasn't the case."
While in jest, Carlisle's comment was telling about the season that wrapped up Sunday night. Fans were still excited about the Pacers, yet the team had a rough year that was over before it even started. Everyone is ready for Tyrese Haliburton to return. The 82nd game generated finality on what some deemed a gap year, and that year is at last over after countless injuries and losing streaks.
Almost 17 thousand fans showed up for the 19-62 Pacers, who were playing for nothing, Sunday night. Detroit had pride and a 60-win season on the line. That was the extent of the stakes in game 82, and the Pacers had nine of their 18 players available. Yet seats were filled and cheers were loud.
"The fans here are amazing," Carlisle said. "Can't thank them enough. All these games where we've been decimated with injury things and whatever, our fans have been there... we haven't been able to get them enough wins."
Tony East
While the Pacers no longer had incentive to lose, keeping their core healthy meant they had less talent available than the Pistons. It was not a particularly inspiring game, especially in the first half, for those fans attending the final home game. The Pacers allowed 41 points in the first quarter, then immediately 40 in the second. Their defense was dreadful early as they trailed by 18 points at halftime.
"Detroit is a great team... It was a very difficult game," Carlisle said.
As has been the case often this season, the Pacers picked themselves up after their lowest point. They outscored Detroit in the second half, even getting their deficit down as low as six late in the fourth quarter. But the poor defensive start and lack of dynamic available options made a 48-minute performance challenging. The Pacers couldn't keep up and suffered a wire-to-wire loss.
It was a continuation of their poor performance on the less glamorous end of the court after the All-Star break. The Pacers ranked 27th in defensive rating during that time, only ahead of three teams with equally-strong draft-related incentives. For the season, they were the 24th-best defense. Health and draft consideration were factors, but the team has to be better on that end of the court next season.
Their late push against Detroit didn't matter or offset their poor defensive start. It was still a defeat for the Pacers, their 63rd of the season. There were fun moments along the way – Jay Huff and Isaiah Stewart getting tangled up added some spice. "That happens. I try my best to be friendly, as friendly as can be during competition," Huff said of the exchange. Jalen Slawson later decked Stewart from behind and was ejected. "It's always interesting." Obi Toppin was on fire from deep and made seven outside shots. He was great one more time and closed the season on a high note.
But the final score, in front of the cheering fans, was 133-121. It ended the Pacers season with just 19 wins, the second-fewest in the league. Time for an offseason that will be defined by lottery odds.
Two players reach noteworthy statistical thresholds
Two numbers of note were reached on Sunday. The first was Huff appearing in his 82nd game, meaning he was a part of every outing for the Pacers this season. He was the only player to not miss a game.
I wrote about his journey toward reaching all 82, and how he did it, last month. Fortunately, no jinx from myself. Huff wouldn't even look at me before Sunday's game to avoid any final chances at bad luck. In the end, after years of bouncing around on two-way deals, his first season on a standard contract featured perfect attendance.
"It is something I'm proud of. It's difficult to do and it makes you appreciate guys that have done it before," Huff shared. "Looking at guys who do this consistently, that's tough to do. It's a long season. Proud of it, happy that we made it through and we got a lot out of it."
I enjoyed Dustin Dopirak's follow-up question, being curious if Huff's achievement came with more meaning during a season in which all of his teammates went down with an injury at some point. "It was tough," he said of the season. "It was nice to avoid that, it was a very interesting year."
The second number from Pacers-Pistons of significance was 20: Kobe Brown's point total. It was his first career 20-point game and fitting end to his season. He was far more productive with the Pacers than he was with the Clippers.
With LA, Brown scored 10-plus points in a game two times across three seasons. His career high when he was traded to Indiana was 13.
He then scored 12 points in consecutive games during his third and fourth outings with the Pacers, meaning he was in double digits the same number of times with both franchises quickly. He then dropped 15 in his fifth game, a career high.
Since then, Brown had a 17, 18, and now 20-point game. He fit far better with the Pacers than the Clippers and proved it one more time to conclude the 2025-26 season.
"That was really cool. I owe it all to my teammates," Brown said of finishing the season with a big scoring night. He credited Quenton Jackson specifically for getting him the ball often. "They hit me when I was open."
The 2025-26 Pacers, in the history books
The results are final, and the Pacers 19-63 record is officially the worst in franchise history.
Many seasons are judged by the results. This one... should not be, at least not fully. Hence the asterisk in the headline here. Are there things the Pacers could have done better? Absolutely. Haliburton admitted the team had a drop off in their standards at times this year. They also had the most salary missing due to injury this season, signed several new players mid-season while deploying 27 guys, and had draft-related incentive to lose. All of those pressures made winning harder and less important. In the end, though, this season stands alone as the worst win rate in Pacers history.
It seems clear to me it would not have been with stronger incentives to win, or just an average number of injuries. They are only one win behind the second-worst season in Pacers history, after all. But 19 wins is 19 wins, and the top lottery odds are the top lottery odds.
Elsewhere, 19-63 is tied for the third-worst record by any team the year after reaching the NBA Finals. Only the Warriors (twice, in 1964-65 and 2019-20) have worse post-Finals campaigns, and neither of those seasons were 82 games long. These Pacers and the 2018-19 Cleveland Cavaliers have the worst 82-game seasons after reaching the finals, both going 19-63.
Again, even with obvious reasons for the struggles, these facts will remain true forever. How this season is remembered will depend on how the Pacers respond, both in terms of win rate and roster building.
Thank you for reading all season. I picked a great time to add an independent website to my coverage, clearly. Anyway, you'll get a ton of offseason content here, plus Fever coverage with their season starting soon. Sign up below to have it all sent to your email inbox.
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