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Times are tough right now for the Indiana Pacers and head coach Rick Carlisle. Carlisle, in his second stint with the team after a long, successful run with the Dallas Mavericks, is trying to sort out one of the least talented rosters in the league.
The Pacers missed the playoffs last year by a wide margin and spent most of the offseason shopping defensive stalwart Myles Turner. Both Turner and teammate Buddy Hield have been long linked to a move to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Carlisle does have talented young guard Tyrese Haliburton at his disposal. But there’s not much else for him to work with, especially after the departure of Malcolm Brogdon to the Boston Celtics in a deal many deemed as one-sided.
He’ll also be encouraged by the strong NBA debut of rookie wing Bennedict Mathurin. The Pacers selected Mathurin with the first pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. The Arizona product, who once claimed he was better than LeBron James, put up 19 points, seven rebounds and two assists on Wednesday night against the Washington Wizards.
But the Pacers still lost that game, showing why they’re one of the favorites to land French star Victor Wembanyama in the 2023 NBA Draft.
And it’s only gotten worse since then.
Pacers New City Edition Jersey Leaks, To The Disgust Of Basketball Fans Everywhere
If a team is going to stink, the least it could do is look good while sucking. Some really good merch, including good jerseys, always seems to ease the pain of having to watch a bad team.
The Pacers, however, appear to be doubling down on the stink with their new city edition jerseys. The jerseys leaked on Twitter on Thursday morning and, well, we’ll let you be the judge.
Indiana Pacers 2022-23 City edition jerseys 👀 #Pacers #NBA pic.twitter.com/JlAXonAAWh
— Pacers Insiders (@PacersInsiders) October 20, 2022
Indiana fans were not particularly happy with the TJ Maxx-esque design.
https://twitter.com/brandon_marvel/status/1583110797479534592?s=20&t=HMwpQup4FbujlxJ4QSOmBA
Oh we are definitely tanking this year. https://t.co/iJ9BAkv2pa
— Al Forno (@FornBredFornFed) October 20, 2022
Those are the ugliest things I may have seen in sports history. It's really not that hard @Pacers! https://t.co/ssJ9RhWnlP
— Jon Easter (@johnnystir) October 20, 2022
Quit playing. 🤣🤣🤣 “Our City Edition jerseys represent the long-standing tradition of our fans feeling like they’ve been sucked into a black hole of mediocrity by mid-December, outlined in gold trim representing the better days ahead.” https://t.co/hc8Q3u1sKM
— Tony Adragna (@CoachAdragna) October 20, 2022
Apparently tanking is an organization-wide mindset.