Rick Carlisle Praises Kevin Pritchard's Success with Pacers

While many have been quick to praise Rick Carlisle, Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam for leading the charge that turned this Pacers team from a middle-of-the-pack team to a championship contender, there's one person who rarely gets the credit he deserves.

In a podcast interview with Draymond Green on The Draymond Green Show Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle was adamant to give praise to Indiana's President of Basketball Operations, Kevin Pritchard, for the work he has done to turn this into a championship level team.

Carlisle told Green, "He's been a very underrated part of this thing of what the Pacers have been able to put together."

When Carlisle took over as the head coach of the Pacers, ownership had asked the front office to build a team that could get into the playoffs and to win as many games possible. But after a slow start to the 2021-22 season, Coach Carlisle and the front office helped make the pitch to ownership that it was time to go in a different direction with the roster.

As soon as ownership signed off on building for the future, Indiana shipped Caris LeVert to the Cavaliers for what eventually became Andrew Nembhard and Ben Sheppard. Two days later, they turned Domantas Sabonis, Jeremy Lamb, and Justin Holiday into Buddy Hield, Tristan Thompson, and now face of the franchise Tyrese Haliburton.

In less than three days, Indiana made two incredible moves that would end up being their future starting backcourt.

Pacers' fans are aware of how savvy Pritchard is when it comes to manufacturing a trade and have often called each one of his trades a "Pritch Slap". Since rebuilding this team with Haliburton at the forefront, Pritchard and his team have constructed several trades and came out on top as the winner.

They traded two second-round picks for Obi Toppin. They moved Malcolm Brogdon and received Aaron Nesmith and a first-round draft pick. They turned Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, and three first-round picks into All-Star Pascal Siakam. They then reacquired the 2026 first-round pick they sent for Siakam back from the Pelicans, and used it to acquire Ivica Zubac.

Indiana's track record of making smart moves is incredible and this is why Rick Carlisle has such high praise for Pritchard, "I've got a president in Kevin Pritchard who is a lot like Bob Meyers who built the Warriors dynasty. Kevin's a former player. He's got the relationships with agents and players, and he understands the game."

Pritchard's History in the Front Office

Kevin Pritchard caoching the Portland Trail Blzers | NBA.com/Getty Images

Kevin Pritchard has been involved with the Pacers organization since 2011 and was the successor to Larry Bird in the summer of 2018. Prior to that, he was hired by R.C. Buford of the San Antonio Spurs to be a scout for the team. Two years later the Portland Trail Blazers hired him as their director of player personal. In the middle of the 2004-05 season, Portland parted ways with head coach Mo Cheeks, and named Pritchard interim head coach where he went 5-22 the final 27 games.

In the 2006 offseason he was promoted to assistant general manager and before the season came to an end, he was promoted to the general manager role on March 29th. He served in that role from 2007-2010 and his biggest draft decision is the infamous 2007 draft where he took Greg Oden over Kevin Durant.

His head coach during that era was Nate McMillan and the team improved from 41-41 his first year to 54-28 the next season. The team he assembled followed up that season with a 50-32 record but he was shockingly let go the day before the NBA Draft. However, before he was relieved of his duties, the organization still tasked him with being the decision maker on draft day.

It was weird ending in Portland for Pritchard, but it's the place that gave him his first crack at running a team and proving that he is capable of building a winner. He also met now Pacers' general manager, Chad Buchanan during his time there, and was eager to bring him aboard once Bird stepped down and he was promoted to President.

You can poke holes in every executives résumé but you can't argue with the success Pritchard has had building this Pacers' team into a contender. He's earned the respect of ownership, the coaching staff, and the players, for how he's helped turn this franchise around. His passion to help bring this incredible state and fan base a championship is the ultimate goal, and hopefully before his time comes to an end in this position, he's able to deliver Indiana with their first NBA title.

You can follow me on X @AlexGoldenNBA and listen to my daily podcast, Setting The Pace, wherever you get your podcasts.

Add us as a preferred source on Google