Rick Carlisle pinpoints Pacers' 'first step' heading into NBA offseason

The Indiana Pacers put together a surprising and impressive run to the 2024 NBA Eastern Conference Finals before falling to the team with the NBA's best record, the Boston Celtics.

Indiana's future looks bright, but a few important questions loom ahead of the NBA offseason. The biggest is the topic of what the future looks like for Pascal Siakam, who's set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Following the Pacers' exit from the playoffs in Game 4, head coach Rick Carlisle left no doubt about what the franchise's primary focus and number one priority is, as Tony East of SI's All Pacers revealed.

"The first step is to begin recruiting Pascal Siakam in earnest," Rick Carlisle said.

Through 41 regular-season games with the Pacers following the team's trade to acquire the 30-year-old from the Toronto Raptors, he averaged 21.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists while tying a career-best mark shooting, knocking down 54.9 percent from the field. Siakam's tenure with the Pacers also featured the best three-point shooting percentage of any stretch in his career, as he knocked down 38.6 percent from beyond the arc.

Siakam's overall success translated perfectly to the postseason, where he averaged 21.6 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists over 17 games. While Siakam is bound to receive a lucrative offer in free agency, the Pacers appear primed to do anything possible to keep him in town, and whether that includes a max contract offer will be something to monitor.

At the end of the day, Siakam appears to be happy with the Pacers and has praised the team, fanbase and city, so there's plenty of reason for optimism that he'll return to Indiana.