To say that the 2025-26 season could not have gone any further from plan for the Indiana Pacers would be a massive understatement. The Pacers expected to at least be semi-competitive this season despite Tyrese Haliburton's Achilles injury that is set to keep him out for the entirety of the '25-'26 campaign, but they entered their Monday night clash against the Sacramento Kings with a 5-18 record — causing major headaches for head coach Rick Carlisle in the process.
But Carlisle and the Pacers are nothing if not resilient, and on Monday, they took a 116-105 victory over the Kings — warding off a late surge from the opposition. And in so doing, Carlisle notched the 999th win of his head coaching career, as noted by Tony East of Sports Illustrated.
Carlisle is now on the cusp of being just the 11th head coach to record at least 1,000 wins in their career, and he will get a chance to join that exclusive club when the Pacers take the court yet again on Friday in a clash against the Philadelphia 76ers.
As of the moment, Gregg Popovich is the all-time leader for head coaching wins with 1,390, which amounts to around eight more 50-win seasons for Carlisle.
Pacers are picking it up as of late
After a bad start to the 2025-26 campaign, the Pacers are at least playing markedly better basketball. While wins against the Chicago Bulls and Kings aren't exactly huge accomplishments, Indiana is getting some of their key guys up and running. Andrew Nembhard, in particular, was brilliant on Monday, hitting a few clutch shots en route to dropping 28 points, four rebounds, and 12 assists against the Kings.
While a playoff push may be too far out for the Pacers to reach, continuing to build winning habits in preparation for a bounce-back 2026-27 season should remain a priority for Carlisle and company.
