NBA Playoff Odds: The Indiana Pacers’ 2021 Title Chances

Indiana Pacers NBA Playoff Odds

How the Indiana Pacers Got Here

The Pacers had injuries hanging over them since December — that's been the recurring theme for Indiana all season.

T.J. Warren played four games before getting sidelined for the season. Victor Oladipo never looked right before he was traded away for Caris LeVert (who was immediately deactivated after a team physical found a cancerous mass in his kidney). Myles Turner is out for the season with a foot injury he suffered in April. Domantas Sabonis has been in and out of the lineup since April. And Malcolm Brogdon has missed the past 10 games entering the play-in games.

Indiana's defense has taken the biggest hit without Turner. The Pacers ranked 11th in Defensive Rating before he first went down on April 7 and have been 21st in the 23 games since. They've played at the fastest pace in the NBA over that stretch as well (105.09), which has also made the over extremely profitable in their games — 16-7 (69.6%), according to our data at Action Labs.

The Pacers finished ninth so they have the benefit of a home game in the play-in game, but they still need to win twice just to make the playoffs. They have the second-longest odds to make the playoffs among the four teams in the East and the longest odds in the conference to make the NBA Finals.

If Brogdon and Sabonis are healthy, the Pacers would be much more competitive, but they are still a longshot to make noise in the postseason.