• Download the NBA App

• 2025 Free Agent Tracker

• Every reported deal for all 30 teams

Squint and you might think you’re looking at the Indiana Pacers of 12 months ago, a team that surprised most of the NBA by working to the NBA Finals .

Open those eyes fully, though, and you realize you’re gazing upon the Atlanta Hawks, another Eastern Conference hopeful whose ambitions to be this season’s Pacers currently are on hold as they navigate a challenge Indiana did not face.

By the time coach Rick Carlisle and his crew spruced up their defense enough in 2024-25 to be taken seriously as a legitimate contender in the East, the biggest piece of their puzzle was in place. Point guard Tyrese Haliburton had signed his five-year, $244.6 million extension in July 2023 and was ascending

See Full Page