Kevin Pritchard

Wheat Hotchkiss

President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard speaks with the media at the conclusion of the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery in Chicago.

kevin-pritchard-speaks-with-the-media-after-2026-nba-draft-lottery-full-media-availability

Kevin Pritchard Speaks with the Media After 2026 NBA Draft Lottery | Full Media Availability

CHICAGO — The ping pong balls didn't bounce the Pacers' way on Sunday afternoon. Indiana entered the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery with a 52.1 percent chance of securing a top-four pick in next month's NBA Draft. If the pick fell out of the top four, it would be conveyed to the Clippers as a condition of the Feb. 5 trade to acquire Ivica Zubac and Kobe Brown.

This year's lottery was televised on ABC from a studio inside Navy Pier in Chicago. Up the stairs from the studio was a conference room where the actual lottery drawing was held roughly an hour before the telecast.

Pacers EVP of Basketball Operations and Assistant GM Ted Wu was Indiana's representative in that room. A former NBA employee, Wu is quite familiar with how the lottery works.

14 ping pong balls numbered 1-14 are placed in a drum and mixed up. Four ping pong balls are then removed from the drum at set intervals, resulting in a four-digit combination. The process is repeated to determine each of the first four picks.

There are 1,001 possible four-digit combinations. Because the Pacers finished with the second-worst record last season, they entered the drawing with 140 combinations. The combinations were assigned sequentially, meaning Washington got the first 140 combinations and Indiana received the next 140.

All of the Pacers' combinations contained the number 1, so that number had to be drawn for the Pacers to have any chance of winning. Conversely, if the number 2 or 3 ever was drawn, the Pacers would not win, as all combinations containing both 1 and either of those digits belonged to Washington.

The first drawing was for the first overall pick. The first ball drawn was numbered 4. Ten seconds later, the next ball drawn was 2. Just like that, Wu knew the Pacers wouldn't have the No. 1 pick for the first time in franchise history.

The third ball was numbered 1, but it didn't matter. All combinations containing both 1 and 2 belonged to Washington, so the Wizards won the top pick.

The next two drawings quickly turned against the Pacers. The second ping pong ball in the second drawing was 2, eliminating Indiana, as Utah ultimately secured the second pick. The first ball in the third draw was yet another 2. That four-digit combination wound up belonging to the Jazz again, so it was thrown out.

The next two draws came down to the final ball. The Pacers needed a 1 both times to win, but it never materialized. The first time, it was a 6 that delivered the third pick to Memphis. The second time, an 8 gave the fourth pick to Chicago.

Vlasta Moravkova, a partner from the accounting firm Ernst & Young, spent the next several minutes stuffing envelopes numbered 1-14 with team logos for the lottery telecast. Because the Pacers fell to fifth, a card with the Clippers logo was placed in the No. 5 envelope. The card with the Pacers logo went unused.

While Moravkova delivered the cards to the studio downstairs, everyone else in the drawing room — Wu and the other team representatives, league officials, and 16 media members (including the author of this story) — were sequestered there without any phones or computers until the lottery results were revealed on television.

Wu knew the Pacers' fate, but could not relay the information to anyone else in the organization, including T.J. McConnell, who was Indiana's on-stage representative for the telecast, and President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard.

The lottery telecast unfolded in the usual fashion, with Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum opening each envelope in order starting with 14 and counting down to 1. Watching from the crowd, Pritchard was on the edge of his seat as Tatum opened the envelopes for 6 and 5, which would determine whether or not the Pacers kept their pick.

"My heart was beating like it was Game 7," Pritchard admitted after the lottery.

When Tatum pulled the Clippers logo out of the No. 5 envelope, Pritchard's heart sank. But he also had been prepared for this outcome ever since he pulled the trigger on the trade back in February.

none

Heading into the trade deadline, Pritchard knew that the Pacers needed to find a way to acquire a starting center to fill the hole created by Myles Turner's departure in free agency last summer. There weren't many ways to add a player of that caliber. The Pacers wouldn't have the cap space in free agency this summer to pay a starting-level center. While this year's draft class is generally considered one of the deepest in years, there wasn't a true five at the top of the class.

The best way to acquire that center was via trade, and the Pacers were able to work out a deal with the Clippers to acquire Zubac — a 7-footer who just turned 29 in March, is under contract through 2028, and averaged a double-double each of the last two seasons. They sent Bennedict Mathurin — a restricted free agent this summer who the Pacers might not have had the cap space to re-sign — and Isaiah Jackson to the Clippers in exchange for Zubac and Brown.

The Clippers also wanted draft compensation. In recent years, the asking price for good starters on multi-year deals has skyrocketed, with teams often requiring four or five future first-round picks. The Pacers were able to get the Clippers to accept just two future firsts, but with a caveat — the Clippers insisted that the Pacers could only protect their 2026 pick if it landed in the top four.

It was a risk that Pritchard felt the Pacers had to take. They would not have been able to acquire Zubac without agreeing to that stipulation. While the hope was always that they would have Zubac and a top-four pick, the reality is that Zubac is likely to be a more productive and valuable player over the next few seasons — when the Pacers, with All-NBA guard Tyrese Haliburton returning from injury, have legitimate championship aspirations — than whoever the Blue & Gold would have selected with the fifth pick.

"We could have got to this point and had the pick and still had a gaping hole at [center]," Pritchard said. "We couldn't risk not getting a player like Zu. I didn't want to risk that.

"...You have to swing. Again, I wanted the pick, we wanted the pick. And I know people are going to be disappointed, but you have to remember, our top seven or eight players are still with us. So today, it stings, but wait til next season. Let's give this group an opportunity to go compete for a championship. They've proven they can do it and we've added a really good center in Zu."

All is not lost for the Pacers without a first-round pick. Conveying the pick now means that the Pacers owe one less future first-round pick to the Clippers. Starting next year, Indiana will own its first-round pick in five of the next six drafts, giving Pritchard a war chest of assets that he can potentially use in another big trade down the road.

The Pacers will also maintain enough cap space this summer to potentially use the mid-level exception to bring in a player in free agency, something that Pritchard said they will explore.

"We are in win-now [mode]," Pritchard said. "We're going to try to make moves this summer — maybe around the edges, maybe big. We'll see about that. But at the end of the day, I feel good in that I think Chad and Ted and our coaching staff and our players — we're an organization that figures it out...We're very resourceful. Our future still looks good."

pacers-disappointed-but-still-excited-for-future-inside-the-2026-nba-draft-lottery

Pacers Disappointed, But Still Excited for Future: Inside the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind for Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard and the rest of the Indiana front office.

The Pacers' run to the 2025 NBA Finals greatly compressed the typical offseason timeline. The NBA Draft took place just three days after the Blue & Gold played Game 7 of the Finals in Oklahoma City. Free agency began just a few days later. While there were moments where Pritchard was able to reflect on an incredible season, he already had to turn his eye to the future and preparing for the 2025-26 campaign.

That task was complicated by All-NBA point guard Tyrese Haliburton tearing his Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the Finals, an injury which Pritchard confirmed on Monday when speaking with the media for the first time since the season ended will sideline Haliburton for all of next season.

But Pritchard still has plenty of optimism about the direction the franchise is heading after what he called "the best two years of my life," with Indiana's run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2024 followed by coming within one game of a championship this season.

"I think you get very hungry to do it again and be playing at the highest level," Pritchard said.

"We have some challenges with Ty's injury, but we like what we have. And I think we've done the best when we've had a chip on our shoulder, when everybody counts us out in a series or a season. And I'm not so sure you should count us out yet."

kevin-pritchard-media-availability-july-7-2025-indiana-pacers

Kevin Pritchard Media Availability (July 7, 2025) | Indiana Pacers

The Pacers will have a different look at center last year, as Myles Turner officially signed with Milwaukee on Monday after 10 years with the Blue & Gold. Pritchard said the Pacers had been "negotiating in good faith" with Turner and his agent at the start of free agency and hoped to bring him back, but ultimately he opted to go with the Bucks' offer.

"I think he's one of the best players that's ever played here," Pritchard said of Turner's legacy in Indiana. "I'd put him right up there. 10 years. Change is inevitable in this sport. Unfortunately, you're not seeing these teams that are together for four and five and six years because of the way the cap is structured now...I'll remember some big blocks that he's had, some big shots. And more than that, what he did [for] this community, what he was about off [the court]. And there is no better person that Myles. We really wanted to keep him, but it didn't work out."

With Turner's departure, the Pacers will utilize of a center-by-committee approach next season. Indiana acquired Jay Huff from Memphis on Sunday, signed James Wiseman on Monday, and Pritchard said he expects them to make a couple additional moves  to continue to address the position.

"We're going to have three or four really good centers that will come in and compete for a starting position," Pritchard said. "We've always done well when there's a lot of competition at a position. I have a feeling someone will raise their level and give us a chance to have a good player."

And while Haliburton will not play next season, Pritchard still believes they have a strong core. All-Star forward Pascal Siakam will lead the charge, while young players like Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Bennedict Mathurin, Jarace Walker, and even second-year forward Johnny Furphy — who Pritchard said has put on 20 pounds of muscle and looked like the best player this week in Summer League practice — will be given more opportunities on the court.

"I have so much confidence in our coaching staff," Pritchard said. "Our coaching staff develops players and they teach them a way that not only they get better as individuals, they get better as a team."

As for Haliburton, Pritchard expressed "no doubt that he will be back better than ever." It will be a long rehab and a challenge for a self-professed "basketball junkie" like Haliburton not to be on the court with his teammates, but Pritchard was already marveling at Haliburton's upbeat attitude, as he's been at Ascension St. Vincent Center to support the Summer League roster at practice and also attended multiple Indiana Fever games at Gainbridge Fieldhouse since his surgery.

The Pacers have proven time and time again over the past two years that they thrive when they're overlooked. Even though they're the reigning conference champions, Haliburton's injury will likely dampen external expectations for the Pacers next season.

And that's perfectly fine for this team, according to Pritchard.

"I'm hopeful that people write us off," Pritchard said. "Let's put it that way."

pritchard-proud-of-pacers-run-hopeful-for-future

Pritchard Proud of Pacers' Run, Hopeful for Future

President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard addressed the media following Monday's Summer League practice.

Pacers President of Basketball Operations spoke with reporters following the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery.

kevin-pritchard-media-availability-may-16-2023

Kevin Pritchard Media Availability (May 16, 2023)

The 2022-23 Pacers season may not have ended with a playoff appearance, but there’s no doubt that the Blue & Gold took significant strides forward. Indiana improved from 25 wins in 2021-22 to 35, saw significant development from up and down its young roster, and heads into the offseason with an optimistic outlook.

“I thought it was a very positive year in many ways,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said in his end-of-season press conference on Monday. “We’ve established a style, a culture. We’ve established the importance of team. We’ve won a lot of our fans back.

“We know we’ve got a long way to go to get to where we want to go, but it’s been a very productive year.”

Heading into the season, Carlisle and Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard met to outline their goals for this season. Pritchard, addressing the media on Tuesday afternoon, harkened back to that meeting,

“I think the first thing that came up is we wanted to have a fun style of basketball,” Pritchard said. “We wanted these guys to come in and play open and free…We really wanted to get our players playing on a high level on the offensive end.”

If that was the primary goal for this season, then mission accomplished. The Pacers established themselves as one of the most exciting teams in the league on the offensive end, thanks in large part to star point guard Tyrese Haliburton.

In his first full season in Indiana, Haliburton blossomed into an All-Star. He averaged 20.7 points and 10.4 assists over 56 games, shooting 49 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range, and 85.7 percent from the free throw line. Haliburton – who just turned 23 last month – shattered the franchise record for assists per game and became the first player in NBA history to average 20 points and 10 assists while shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc.

With Haliburton leading the point of attack, so many players on the Pacers roster enjoyed the most offensive success of their careers.

Myles Turner, the full-time center for the first time in five years, averaged a career-best 18 points per game and broke Reggie Miller’s franchise record for true shooting percentage. Buddy Hield broke another of Miller’s records, knocking down a career-best 288 threes. T.J. McConnell, with his relentless energy, proved to be the ideal backup to Haliburton, keeping the pace up and showing off an improved shooting stroke.

It wasn’t just the veterans that flourished in Indiana’s high-octane offense. Rookie guard Bennedict Mathurin was one of the league’s top scorers off the bench. Fellow rookie Andrew Nembhard started over 60 games. Aaron Nesmith and Jordan Nwora made the most of increased opportunities after being acquired in trades with championship-contending rosters. And other young players like Isaiah Jackson, Jalen Smith, and Chris Duarte had strong showings at different points throughout the season.

Haliburton said that the biggest success this season was the Pacers establishing a clear offensive identity where any time they took the floor, “we (knew) we could score against anybody.”

Backup big man Daniel Theis referenced talking with opposing players after back-to-back road wins in Boston and Miami just before Christmas and having those players marvel at Indiana’s pace and free-flowing offense.

“It’s impossible to scout you guys,” Theis recalled them saying.

The Pacers have so much firepower on offense, but as the players filed through the Ascension St. Vincent Center for exit interviews on Monday to meet with coaches and the front office, there was one consistent theme – they must improve defensively.

kevin-pritchard-end-of-season-media-availability

Kevin Pritchard End of Season Media Availability

The Blue & Gold ranked 26th in the NBA this season in defensive rating, allowing 117.1 points per 100 possessions. They were 26th in opponent 3-point percentage (.373), 27th in points in the paint allowed (53.7 points per game), and 29th in second-chance points (15.4 per contest).

While Turner has established himself as one of the league’s best rim protectors, the Pacers struggled to keep players in front of them on the perimeter. The message in exit interviews was clear – everyone on the roster needs to dedicate themselves to improving on the defensive end this summer.

What that means may vary from player to player. For instance, Mathurin said that his biggest focus is on becoming a better defender off the ball, working on his communication and trying to limit mental lapses. Haliburton considers off-ball defense and jumping passing lanes to be his strength, but knows he needs to spend time in the weight room to get stronger so that he can be better built to battle with bigger guards.

Pritchard said he will be looking for players who can help defensively at the point of attack in the draft and free agency, but also expressed optimism that the young players on Indiana’s roster will demonstrate “organic improvement” on the defensive end next season.

“When we’ve had deep playoff runs, we had a defensive culture,” Pritchard said. “…The game has changed. You have to put it in the hole. But I think we’re going to become such a dynamic offensive team with Ty and what we put around him. If we can just go from 26th (in defensive rating) to 15th and then 15 to 10, keeping that offense, you project that out a little bit and you realize, man, it’s not as far away as we think.”

It promises to be an active summer for Pritchard and the front office. One of the main priorities will be Haliburton, who is eligible to sign an extension on his rookie contract this summer. While negotiations haven’t started yet, both parties did not exhibit any stress about a deal getting done, with Pritchard insisting “Ty is our guy.”

“I’ve never been around a more complete, empathetic, understanding of what the real world is, loving, taking care of the small people, truly committed to community leader like him,” Pritchard said. “I’ve never seen it. I’ve never seen a connector like Tyrese ever. Like ever. He connects with our ball boys, he connects with the president or the CEO of some company. He just has this ability to make people feel comfortable around him.”

tyrese-haliburton-end-of-season-media-availability

Tyrese Haliburton End of Season Media Availability

The Pacers have just three free agents on the 15-man roster – long-time veterans George Hill and James Johnson as well as fourth-year forward Oshae Brissett. But the Blue & Gold will have five picks in the 2023 NBA Draft, including their own likely top-10 pick (pending the results of the NBA Draft Lottery on May 16), two late first-rounders acquired in trades from Cleveland and Boston, and two second-round selections.

Pritchard made clear on Tuesday that “I don’t want to bring in five young kids to this organization.” He and the front office have run lots of models as to how the offseason could unfold and will continue to do so over the next two months leading up into the draft. Pritchard said there are “almost infinite models” when it comes to potential moves.

“I think there’s some opportunities for us to look at our draft picks and cap space and maybe put a bunch together and make big packages and go after some players,” he said. “Now I can’t say for sure that’s going to get done, but I want to be really creative with how we go after the right players.

“I think we’ll be pretty aggressive in the market place. I think I told you guys we made some big offers at the trade deadline. Quite frankly, I’m itchy. I’m a little itchy. We have this unique player Tyrese who has maybe put us way ahead of schedule. We won 25 games, we won 35 games. Can we get to 45? Can we take that to a bigger team?”

Pritchard said that he has and will continue to consult with Haliburton when it comes to potential offseason acquisitions. He also believes that Haliburton can be a valuable recruiter in free agency, both with his ability to make other players better on the court as well as his infectious personality.

Before turning the page completely to the offseason, Pritchard couldn’t help but reflect on the 2022-23 Pacers, insisting “Of my 30 years in the league, I’ve never been around a more fun (team).”

“This team was so fun to be around,” Pritchard said. “And I wanted them to get a taste of the playoffs, but I’m not sure that it was the right thing (for the franchise in the long-term).”

The Pacers have now missed the playoffs the past three seasons, but don’t expect that drought to last much longer. Being around this year’s team only reinforced his belief that the Blue & Gold deserve to return to the postseason.

“As a goal, I really want to get this team in the playoffs,” Prichard said “…I want it for our organization, I want it for our community. But when you’re around a really good group of kids, you just want it to happen because they deserve it, because they’re doing the right thing, because they came in and they worked hard and they came together and they were for each other.”

rick-carlisle-end-of-season-media-availability

Rick Carlisle End of Season Media Availability

pacers-hope-to-continue-to-build-on-this-seasons-successes

Pacers Hope to Build on This Season's Successes

April 11, 2023 - Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard spoke with media following the 2022-23 season.

Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard spoke with media following the 2023 NBA trade deadline.