End of Week Roundup: Schedule, Jerseys, and Team USA's Final Tune Up

Schedule Release

I'll admit, I've never been someone to get excited about the schedule release for any sport. I think the fact that it's the Social Media department's Superbowl is proof that without all the dressing, it's a fairly dry affair. But this year there is a fun quirk and I even found a fun site that breaks down the schedule using fun graphics.

The quirk: there's only 80 games on the schedule! As I mentioned in a previous article, the timing/matchups of the remaining two games will depend on the team's performance in the In-Season Tournament.

Now for those graphics (courtesy of Positive Residual):

Takeaways? The schedule is pretty fair! That's a hard thing for any fan to admit but particularly so for we of the small-markets. If you're finding the notion a hard pill to swallow, fret not. You can still warm yourself at the hearth of institutional bias as the NBA and its media partners continue to have no interest in featuring the Pacers on national television.

The team's only primetime game will be against the Boston Celtics on January 30th.

Truthfully, it makes very little difference to me where the games are aired. If anything, I prefer hearing announcers that know about the team over the national pundits who only have a cursory knowledge of our players. However, if I were Tyrese Haliburton and my super-max extension depended on media members voting me onto one of the All-NBA teams...well, I might be a little sore about the lack of exposure.

City Edition Jersey Design Leak

According to unimpeachable sources on X, formerly known as Twitter, the above designs are what the Pacers' City Edition uniforms will look like next year. Writing this post is exposing the depths of my nihilism as you can throw jersey designs (particularly one-offs like City Editions) on top of schedule releases and national TV games in the pile of things that don't move the needle for me.

Having said that, I think those designs are pretty fun. So maybe I do care?

Team USA's Final Exhibition Game

Team USA takes on Team Germany today in Abu Dhabi. It is the Americans' second game in the Emirate after beating the Antetokuompo-less Greeks on Friday by a score of 108-86. While Tyrese Haliburton posted a modest stat line of six points, four assists, two steals and two rebounds, he did star in a couple of highly re-tweetable highlights.

Today's opponent, Germany, is ranked 11th in the world and possesses a solid collection of NBA talent. Franz Wagner, who might be the best individual player Team USA has faced yet, is supported by his brother Mo, Dennis Schroder, and our very own Daniel Theis.

The Germans are playing on a back-to-back, having faced Greece yesterday. They won comfortably – though not as comfortably as we did – outscoring the Greeks 84-71. Franz Wagner and Theis both contributed 15 points, while Schroder scored 14. However it wasn't all roses. Justus Hollatz, a 22 year old back-up point guard, injured his ankle and his availability for the rest of the tournament is now in doubt.

Tipoff is at 12:00 PM EST and the game will be shown on FOX.

See ya in the comments!