After The Timeout · NBA 2026-27 guide

Eastern Conference · tip-off October 20

Indiana Pacers

Our win estimate next to the market's, the last three seasons, who came and went, and the rotation we expect.

Our estimate

30 wins

Median of 20,000 simulated seasons. Middle 80%: 25 to 36 wins.

The market

47.1 wins

Where the Kalshi yes price for "wins or more" crosses 50%.

Last season

19-63

2025-26 · net rating -7.7 (26th in the NBA)

Our estimate is 16.2 wins below the market.

Treat the gap as a flag, not a verdict. In backtests on 2024-25 and 2025-26 (60 team-seasons) this kind of estimate missed a team's win total by 8.3 wins on average. Last season's wins pulled toward 41 missed by 9.0. Ratings built from games alone said 33 wins for this team.

Tyrese Haliburton (32 projected minutes) has no 2025-26 regular-season games on file but is in the rotation we expect. Our roster rating counts him at his most recent full season.

Two ways to count wins

Our range against the market

The blue bar is the middle 80% of our simulated seasons. The orange line is the market's win total.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 47.1 market wins in an 82-game season
Our median 30, middle 80%: 25 to 36 Market 47.1

Where we think they finish in the East

Top 6: 0.1% Play-in, 7th to 10th: 8.9% Outside the top 10: 91%
Market prices by strikeKalshi, captured Oct 19, 4:38 pm UTC
Wins or moreBidAskMidOur odds
1095¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
1595¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
2094¢ 100¢ 97¢ 100%
2594¢ 100¢ 97¢ 92%
3093¢ 98¢ 96¢ 58%
3587¢ 96¢ 92¢ 17%
4076¢ 79¢ 78¢ 2%
4557¢ 60¢ 59¢ 0%
5037¢ 40¢ 39¢ 0%
5512¢ 25¢ 19¢ 0%
602¢ 12¢ 7¢ 0%
650¢ 7¢ n/a 0%

A strike with no bid is treated as unpriced. The market win total is a straight line between the two strikes that straddle 50%.

What the scoreboard said

The last three regular seasons

Ratings are points per 100 possessions. Possessions are estimated from box scores, so treat them as close, not exact. Ranks are out of 30.

2025-26 · 19-63 (29th in wins)

Points per game
112.427th
Allowed per game
120.425th
Offensive rating
109.028th
Defensive rating
116.825th
Net rating
-7.726th

2024-25 · 50-32 (6th in wins)

Points per game
117.47th
Allowed per game
115.117th
Offensive rating
114.87th
Defensive rating
112.615th
Net rating
+2.212th

2023-24 · 47-35 (12th in wins)

Points per game
123.31st
Allowed per game
120.227th
Offensive rating
118.92nd
Defensive rating
116.024th
Net rating
+2.910th

Our preseason ratings

Offense
-0.6624th
Defense
+2.5225th
Net, games only
-3.1824th
Roster value
-3.21

Offense, defense and net are points per game against an average team, fitted on every completed game before tip-off (defense: lower is better). Roster value is the on-court net per 48 minutes of the players on the roster list, weighted by minutes.

Who came and who left

Offseason moves

Built from the DraftKings roster list and 2025-26 box scores. Players who left had at least 500 regular-season minutes here last season.

In (4)

  • Kelly Oubre Jr.from PHI
    31.5 min, 14.1 pts a game
  • Larry Nance Jr.from CLE
    12.9 min, 3.7 pts a game
  • Tyrese HaliburtonReturningLast played 2024-25 for IND
1 moredepth and rookies
  • Braden SmithRookie / newNo NBA box score on file

Out (5)

  • Micah Potternow with POR
    19.3 min, 9.7 pts a game
  • Bennedict Mathurinnow with NO
    31.8 min, 17.8 pts a game
  • Ethan Thompsonnot on a 2026-27 roster we can see
    20.5 min, 7.0 pts a game
  • Isaiah Jacksonnow with LAC
    16.8 min, 6.4 pts a game
  • Kam Jonesnow with MIL
    16.6 min, 4.4 pts a game

The rotation we expect

Top eight by projected minutes

Minutes come from our DFS minutes projection and are not scaled to a 240-minute game. Open a player for three seasons of per-game lines and shooting.

Tyrese Haliburton G · 32.3 projected min 2025-26: no regular-season games on file

2025-26

No regular-season games on file.

2024-25 · IND

73games
33.6min
18.6pts
3.5reb
FG47.3%476/1006
3P38.8%218/562
FT85.1%189/222

9.2 assists a game

2023-24 · IND

69games
32.3min
20.1pts
3.9reb
FG47.7%500/1048
3P36.4%195/535
FT85.5%194/227

10.9 assists a game

Andrew Nembhard G · age 26 · 31.2 projected min 2025-26: 57 g, 16.9 pts, 2.8 reb, 7.7 ast

2025-26 · IND

57games
31.3min
16.9pts
2.8reb
FG44.2%333/753
3P36.1%107/296
FT82.5%193/234

7.7 assists a game

2024-25 · IND

65games
29.0min
10.0pts
3.3reb
FG45.8%247/539
3P29.1%51/175
FT79.4%108/136

5.0 assists a game

2023-24 · IND

67games
25.3min
9.3pts
2.1reb
FG49.8%260/522
3P35.7%61/171
FT80.4%45/56

4.2 assists a game

Pascal Siakam F · age 32 · 30.7 projected min 2025-26: 62 g, 24.0 pts, 6.6 reb, 3.8 ast

2025-26 · IND

62games
33.2min
24.0pts
6.6reb
FG48.4%559/1155
3P35.8%105/293
FT69.3%262/378

3.8 assists a game

2024-25 · IND

78games
32.7min
20.2pts
6.9reb
FG51.9%613/1182
3P38.9%126/324
FT73.4%226/308

3.4 assists a game

2023-24 · IND/TOR

80games
33.2min
21.7pts
7.1reb
FG53.6%681/1271
3P34.6%85/246
FT73.2%290/396

4.3 assists a game

Aaron Nesmith F · age 27 · 30.0 projected min 2025-26: 45 g, 13.8 pts, 4.2 reb, 1.9 ast

2025-26 · IND

45games
29.6min
13.8pts
4.2reb
FG41.4%212/512
3P37.9%105/277
FT82.9%92/111

1.9 assists a game

2024-25 · IND

45games
25.0min
12.0pts
4.0reb
FG50.7%192/379
3P43.1%84/195
FT91.2%73/80

1.2 assists a game

2023-24 · IND

72games
27.7min
12.2pts
3.8reb
FG49.6%315/635
3P41.9%140/334
FT78.1%107/137

1.5 assists a game

Jarace Walker F · age 23 · 28.1 projected min 2025-26: 76 g, 11.6 pts, 5.1 reb, 2.5 ast

2025-26 · IND

76games
25.7min
11.6pts
5.1reb
FG41.9%307/733
3P37.4%133/356
FT74.9%137/183

2.5 assists a game

2024-25 · IND

75games
15.9min
6.1pts
3.1reb
FG47.2%170/360
3P40.5%75/185
FT66.7%46/69

1.5 assists a game

2023-24 · IND

32games
10.7min
3.8pts
2.0reb
FG40.9%45/110
3P40.0%22/55
FT88.9%8/9

1.2 assists a game

Kelly Oubre Jr. New here F · age 30 · 28.1 projected min 2025-26: 50 g, 14.1 pts, 5.0 reb, 1.6 ast

2025-26 · PHI

50games
31.5min
14.1pts
5.0reb
FG46.7%254/544
3P36.0%86/239
FT76.6%111/145

1.6 assists a game

2024-25 · PHI

60games
34.7min
15.1pts
6.1reb
FG47.0%348/741
3P29.3%71/242
FT75.1%139/185

1.8 assists a game

2023-24 · PHI

68games
30.3min
15.4pts
5.0reb
FG44.1%387/878
3P31.1%101/325
FT75.0%174/232

1.5 assists a game

Kobe Brown F · age 26 · 26.6 projected min 2025-26: 60 g, 5.9 pts, 3.1 reb, 1.3 ast

2025-26 · IND/LAC

60games
16.0min
5.9pts
3.1reb
FG46.9%127/271
3P37.4%52/139
FT79.7%47/59

1.3 assists a game

2024-25 · LAC

38games
7.1min
2.0pts
1.7reb
FG45.8%33/72
3P23.1%6/26
FT71.4%5/7

0.6 assists a game

2023-24 · LAC

43games
9.1min
2.1pts
1.4reb
FG41.1%37/90
3P29.2%14/48
FT50.0%1/2

0.6 assists a game

Ivica Zubac C · age 29 · 26.2 projected min 2025-26: 48 g, 14.1 pts, 10.6 reb, 2.2 ast

2025-26 · IND/LAC

48games
30.2min
14.1pts
10.6reb
FG59.8%288/482
3Pn/a0/0
FT71.1%101/142

2.2 assists a game

2024-25 · LAC

80games
32.8min
16.8pts
12.6reb
FG62.8%592/942
3Pn/a0/0
FT66.1%156/236

2.7 assists a game

2023-24 · LAC

68games
26.4min
11.7pts
9.2reb
FG64.9%337/519
3Pn/a0/0
FT72.3%120/166

1.4 assists a game

How to read this

Method and limits

How our estimate is built
  • Our estimate starts from the roster. Each player's on-court net points per 48 minutes (from his most recent full season, pulled toward zero when the sample is small) is averaged by minutes across the roster list, then turned into wins at about 2.9 wins per point of net.
  • That win total is then pushed through the real 2026-27 schedule 20,000 times, using a home win probability for every game, to get the range and the playoff and play-in odds.
  • Ratings built from games alone (6,153 games before October 20) are kept as a comparison. They fade old games over the offseason, which pulls every team toward average.
  • The market number is the wins where Kalshi's "wins or more" price crosses 50%, read off a straight line between strikes five wins apart.
What the estimate does not know
  • Possessions are an estimate from box totals, not tracked possessions.
  • The season simulation uses each game's win probability from the ratings and nothing else: no rating uncertainty, injuries, trades after the cutoff or in-season rating updates, so the 10th-90th percentile band is narrower than a real season's spread.
  • The 2026-27 schedule file lists 1200 games (80 per team on average) rather than 1230. Each team's missing games ([2] per team) are played against an average opponent at a neutral site with no rest terms.
  • Projection method: (d) roster values. In the walk-forward study its hold-out MAE was 8.3 wins (n = 60 team-seasons) against 9.0 for last season's wins regressed toward 41. Typical error is still about 8 wins per team, so treat every number as a wide estimate.
  • Roster values use each player's box-score plus-minus, which is not adjusted for teammates. Players with no box-score history count as average at 10 minutes a game.
  • Ties in the seeding are broken at random; head-to-head and division rules are not applied.
  • Every team has a usable market median.
  • Market median uses the midpoint of the yes bid and ask for each strike and a straight line between the two strikes (5 wins apart) that straddle 0.5; a strike with no bid is treated as unpriced.
  • Rosters are the DraftKings Best Ball player list for draft group 150564, kept only where the player is on his team's current ESPN roster (ESPN team rosters, 2026-10-19): released and departed players are out. Players DraftKings lists as Out are not in the engine's pool, so they have no projected minutes and are not in the top 8; each team's moves block names them.
  • Projected minutes are the engine's per-player estimates from box scores through 2026-04-12; they are not scaled to the team's 240 minutes and do not model new teammates.
  • Box scores start in 2021-22; a player with no box score on file is marked as a rookie or new, which can include veterans returning from abroad. Ages come from the ESPN player directory (2025-26 file) and are missing for players it does not list.
  • This team has 2 games the schedule file does not list yet; they are treated as games against an average opponent.

Data built Oct 19, 2026. Estimates are ours and can be wrong.