Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team from Indianapolis that plays in the NBA's Eastern Conference Central Division. Founded in 1967 as an original American Basketball Association (ABA) team, they joined the NBA in 1976 after the ABA–NBA merger. Their home games are held at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The team's name honors Indiana's connection to the Indianapolis 500's pace cars and the harness racing industry.

The Pacers won three ABA championships—in 1970, 1972, and 1973—and also reached the ABA Finals in 1969 and 1975. They have appeared in the NBA Finals twice, in 2000 and 2025, and have won nine division titles. Six Hall of Fame players spent multiple seasons with the Pacers: Reggie Miller, Chris Mullin, Alex English, Mel Daniels, Roger Brown, and George McGinnis. Hall of Fame coaches include Bobby "Slick" Leonard, Jack Ramsay, and Larry Brown. Additionally, Miller and Detlef Schrempf are in the FIBA Hall of Fame.

In early 1967, six investors—attorney Richard Tinkham, John DeVoe, Chuck DeVoe, entrepreneur Lyn Treece, sports agent Chuck Barnes, and Indianapolis Star writer Bob Collins—pooled money to buy an ABA franchise. For their first seven seasons, the Pacers played at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum, though they held some playoff games at venues like Anderson High School Wigwam (1969, 1971, 1972) and Assembly Hall (1972). In 1974, they moved to downtown Indianapolis's Market Square Arena, their home for 25 years.

Early in their second season, former Indiana Hoosiers star Bob "Slick" Leonard became head coach, replacing Larry Staverman. Leonard turned the team into a powerhouse, fueled by stars Mel Daniels, George McGinnis, Bob Netolicky, Rick Mount, Freddie Lewis, and Roger Brown. The Pacers became the ABA's most successful franchise, winning three championships in four years and appearing in the ABA Finals five times in the league's nine-year history—an ABA record.

The Pacers were one of four ABA teams (along with the Denver Nuggets, New York Nets, and San Antonio Spurs) to join the NBA in the 1976–77 merger. Each former ABA team paid a $3.2 million entry fee, and the four surviving teams also compensated the two ABA franchises left out—the Spirits of St. Louis and Kentucky Colonels (the Virginia Squires had folded before merger talks). This caused financial strain, and the Pacers, already struggling financially in their final ABA season, had sold off star players.

The new NBA teams were also barred from national TV revenue for four years. The Pacers finished their first NBA season 36–46, with Billy Knight and Don Buse making the All-Star Game. But that was a rare highlight: over their first 13 NBA seasons, they had only two non-losing records and two playoff appearances. Lack of continuity plagued them; they traded Knight and Buse before the 1977–78 season, then dealt Adrian Dantley (averaging nearly 27 points) in December and second-leading scorer John Williamson in January.

The Pacers also lost two lopsided trades. In 1980, they sent Alex English to the Nuggets to reacquire a past-his-prime George McGinnis, while English became an NBA scoring legend. In 1981, they traded a 1984 draft pick to the Portland Trail Blazers for Tom Owens, who played one unremarkable season and was out of the league a year later. That pick became the second overall selection in 1984, which the Blazers used on Sam Bowie while Michael Jordan was still available—leaving the Pacers out of one of the deepest drafts ever, which included Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Sam Perkins, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton.

Clark Kellogg, drafted in 1982, finished second in Rookie of the Year voting, but the Pacers posted their worst record ever at 20–62 in 1982–83 and won just 26 games the next season. After 22 wins in 1984–85 and 26 in 1985–86, Jack Ramsay replaced George Irvine as coach and led the team to a 41–41 record in 1986–87 and their second NBA playoff appearance. Rookie Chuck Person, nicknamed "The Rifleman" for his long-range shooting, led the team in scoring and won NBA Rookie of the Year. The Pacers earned their first NBA playoff win in Game 3 of that first-round series.