After Paul George’s agent infamously declared that George would not be re-signing with Indiana, most of the NBA media labeled the Pacers as a bottom-of-the-barrel team next season, with the playoffs being little more than a pipe dream.
I wouldn’t be so sure.
The 2017-2018 Pacers will be monumentally different than the 2016-17 team. Paul George, Jeff Teague, CJ Miles, Monta Ellis, Aaron Brooks and Lavoy Allen are all gone. In their place is Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis, Darren Collison, Cory Joseph and, reprising his role, Lance Stephenson.