Listen Live
Pacers logo on basketball court

Source: (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

INDIANAPOLIS–The Indiana Pacers will pick 7th in the upcoming NBA Draft. It’s one of their highest picks in the last 30 years, but that’s not all they have.

They also have the 26th, 29th, 32nd, and 50th picks.

“I like 7. There’s always a guy that falls out of the top two or three and may fall to us. I don’t know if that happens for sure, but it may,” said Kevin Pritchard, president of basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers.

Those five picks available to the Pacers provide a chance for them to get more youth, but Pritchard doesn’t think they’ll keep all of those picks.

“Could we be packaging and moving some of those picks around? Absolutely. We could move some of those out into the future. I think all things are on the board for us,” said Pritchard Tuesday night after the lottery.

The Pacers have not been involved in very many draft lotteries because since 1985 (when the lottery began), the Pacers have missed the playoffs just 11 times and only non-playoff teams are eligible for the lottery.

The Pacers have not had a winning season since 2019-2020 when they went 45-28. They finished 35-47 last year.

The Pacers might target either a forward or a center in the draft. Last season, they finished last in defensive rebounding percentage, grabbing 68.5% of their opponent’s misses, allowing second-chance points on 32.5% of them.

They allowed 15.4 second-chance points per game, which is barely better than last in the league.

The NBA Draft is June 22.