Pacers' Obi Toppin Receives Shocking Prediction For NBA Finals

The reserve forward was one of the heroes of Game 1 for the Pacers.

Jun 5, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Obi Toppin (1) shoots the ball against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the fourth quarter in game one of the 2025 NBA Finals at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

The Indiana Pacers would not have won Game 1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder without the play of Obi Toppin. Toppin had 17 points and hit five threes against the Thunder.

In fact, the Pacers decided to close with Toppin because of the fact that the Thunder went small. Toppin had a disastrous start to the game, too, turning it over multiple times in his first two minutes.

Indiana's bench has done a fantastic job all season long. That has been one of the reasons why the Pacers are in the NBA Finals in the first place.

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Toppin has been so good off the bench in the second half of the season that Rick Carlisle feels comfortable having him out there in any situation.

Bleacher Report believes that he is so good that he could receive some NBA Finals MVP votes when everything is said and done. That is an incredibly bold prediction.

Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam would be much more likely to receive votes than Toppin would, especially because Toppin is a bench player.

Both Haliburton and Siakam are the best players on the Pacers, and they won't win the Finals unless both players have an excellent series against the Thunder.

Toppin, while valuable, likely won't be good enough throughout the entire series that he would receive some Finals MVP votes by the time the series ends. That would be highly unlikely.

Regardless, Toppin has been a very good offensive player off the bench. He is someone that the Pacers can count on to put up points and make an extremely athletic play every game.

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Indiana is a team that is more than the sum of its parts. While Haliburton and Siakam are both very good, it's a team effort when they are able to advance in the playoffs.

Toppin is a key part of that off the bench. The Thunder are going to need to defend him closely. If they don't, he will continue to light it up from beyond the three-point arc.

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