Reggie Miller – Franchise all-time leading scorer (25,279 points)

Lore & Background

Reggie Miller arrived in Indianapolis in 1987 as an 11th overall pick out of UCLA, a lanky shooting guard with a jumper that seemed to defy geometry. What the Pacers got was not just a scorer but a standard-bearer. Over the next eighteen years, in an era when the league was reshaping itself around superstars and free-agency churn, Miller never left. He became the face of the franchise through the 'Revolving Door' era of the early 1990s, when the team cycled through a parade of big-name acquisitions, and he remained the constant, the anchor, the guy who would hit the shot when the arena was shaking. He was a 6-time All-Star, a two-time All-NBA selection, and never selected to an NBA All-Defensive team. It is the number that hangs above every other in the franchise record book, the one that future generations will have to chase and almost certainly will not catch for a very long time. When Miller retired his #31 in 2006, the ceremony at the fieldhouse was a homecoming. The franchise had found its permanent icon, its scoring god, the player whose name became synonymous with the word 'clutch.' His record stands not just as a statistical achievement but as a testament to what one player, one city, and one jersey can mean over nearly two decades of basketball.

Reader's Guide

No other player in franchise history has come within 2,000 points of that mark. Miller was drafted 11th overall in 1987 out of UCLA and spent his entire career in Indianapolis. He was a 6-time All-Star, won the 1995 All-Star Game MVP, and made two All-NBA teams. The record still matters because it is the single most cited statistic in Pacers history. His #31 was retired by the franchise in 2006, and he was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. And the 8 points in 9 seconds he scored against the Knicks in the 1995 playoffs is arguably the most famous clutch sequence in Pacers annals.

Did You Know?

• Reggie Miller's 8 points in 9 seconds in Game 5 of the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the New York Knicks is widely regarded as one of the greatest clutch performances in NBA playoff history.
• Miller played all 18 of his NBA seasons (1987–2005) for the Indiana Pacers, making him one of the most loyal players of his era in a league defined by free-agency movement.
• Miller was a 6-time All-Star and a 2-time All-NBA selection during his prime years, but was never named an All-Star Game MVP or selected to an All-Defensive team.