For those of you on Eastern time, I hope you took a nap. For those of you on Pacific time, buckle up for a rare primetime Pacers game. For Kahonu, who I can only imagine is living like Gilligan in the middle of the ocean, I'm sorry you've had to wait until after lunch to enjoy some hoops.

Tip off tonight is at 10:30pm in Indianapolis as the Pacers take on the Clippers in their new arena. The Clippers are 4-3 over the past two weeks with a solid defense and a below average offense.

The solid defense, you won't be surprised to hear, has a lot to do with the return of Kawhi Leonard to the lineup. He's still working his way into game shape but the Pacers should expect to have their hands full tonight, nonetheless.

Trade Deadline

The Clippers made a few moves around the edges of their roster, bringing in Bojan Bogdan Bogdanovic and MarJon Beauchamp. Neither of the new additions will be available tonight.

The Pacers, made the smallest move possible, sending James Wiseman and cash to the Raptors in exchange for a top-55 protected pick. In other words, we just wanted to clear Wiseman's salary from the books and the Raptors were nice enough to take him for some cash considerations.

For the implications, I'll point you to Tony East's breakdown of the trade.

By trading away Wiseman, the Pacers removed his cap hit from their salary books entirely. Indiana is now $2.4 million shy of the luxury tax with 14 players – and finances were going to be a major theme for the blue and gold at this trade deadline. They now have the financial wiggle room and roster space to bring in another player before the season ends...
The Pacers may wait to actually sign someone. They have a few players with incentives in their contracts, so creating as much distance from the luxury tax as possible gives the organization more insurance that should some incentives hit, they still won’t be a tax paying team. Plus, the NBA’s buyout market doesn’t typically take shape until early March. Indiana can assess their options until then.

Side note: we're really fortunate to have someone who understands the fine print as well as Tony East and someone who understands the X's and O's as well as Caitlin Cooper covering our team. The quality of Pacers reporting available is simply a luxury.

Anyway, read his full article (or at least give him a click) below.

Indiana Pacers Trade James Wiseman To Toronto Raptors, Get Flexibility
The Indiana Pacers made just one trade at the 2025 NBA Trade Deadline, sending center James Wiseman to the Toronto Raptors to get some flexibility and spending benefits.
ForbesTony East

Injuries

How to Watch

Tipoff is at 10:30 PM ET.

TV: FanDuel Sports Network, NBA League Pass

Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan

See ya in the comments!

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