Pacers Explain on Media Day Why Last Season Mattered

INDIANAPOLIS -- Another NBA season has arrived, and Monday marked the start of it all with Pacers Media Day. While everyone is excited to talk about the next chapter ahead, the Pacers wanted to make one thing very clear: Last year mattered, and it's time to fix it.

"There's no way to look at last year and just dismiss it," said Pacers Head Coach Rick Carlisle. "We need to move beyond that, learn from it, and then work to reclaim our position as a competitive team in the league. We know that it's going to be significant work."

It would be very easy and understandable for players, coaches, writers, and fans to do the thing Carlisle warned against and just throw last year away like it didn't matter. As more players stepped up to the podium on Media Day, it became more than a cliche. It sounds like a clear focus.

In fact, when I asked Tyrese Haliburton what the most important thing would be for this year's team outside of health, he still took the conversation back to last year.

"Not pretending like last year didn't happen," said Haliburton. "We talk a lot about our standard. We'd be lying if we said there wasn't a drop-off. It wasn't a great year. We only won 19 games. We dealt with a lot of health stuff but there's no excuse for the year that we had. I think just re-establishing those things. We could watch as much film as we want from two years ago, but we can't pretend like last year didn't happen. We've got to correct those things to go into this year."

Haliburton’s full answer to my question about what’s most important this year- pic.twitter.com/3OKlLSepGA
— Tyler Smith (@TylerSmith_ISL) September 28, 2026

Then, when I asked Pascal Siakam what positive he was taking from last year, he paused and said:

"It's hard to see the positives when you don't really achieve anything" he said. "When you don't win. That's just my mindset. It's tough. I guess one thing is we see what we don't want to be. We've seen what NOT to do. Last year happened. We've got some reinforcements and things like that but we can't just think it's just gonna happen. We've got to rebuild the standards to who we were and who we feel like we're supposed to be."

These are great answers from the leaders of this team. Instead of erasing last year completely, this group is using it to propel them forward.

TJ McConnell later added: "A lot of us do want to forget, but it's important that we can't forget that it happened. This league can humble you. From the Finals to one of the worst seasons in Pacers history. That's a quick drop. I know it motivated a lot of us to use it as fuel."

To no surprise, the Pacers aren't getting much love in the world of projections. Some of that probably has to do with the improved Eastern Conference. Some of it probably also has to do with a team coming off a 19-win season. There's a big difference between letting the past hurt your confidence, and using it for where you want to go.

"I feel like we get doubted every year," said Aaron Nesmith. "I guess we'll surprise some people again. We have a heavy belief. There's a lot of hunger and a lot of sting left over."

This franchise has the right leadership from top to bottom, and that should only add to the excitement for the season ahead. As camp begins tomorrow, the mindset and motivation is right where it needs to be.

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