The Indiana Pacers made a few key moves in the offseason after finishing the 2022-23 season with a record of 35-47, putting them in fourth place in the Central Division and 11th place in the Eastern Conference.

They signed guard Bruce Brown to a two-year, $45 million contract in July. The one-time NBA champion played in 80 games and started in 31 for the Denver Nuggets during the 2022-23 season, earning averages of 11.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game. The Pacers acquired forward Obi Toppin in a trade with the New York Knicks the same month. They re-signed guard Tyrese Haliburton to a five-year contract after he earned the first All-Star selection of his young career last year.

What are some of the biggest questions the Pacers must answer as they head into their 2023-24 NBA training camp?

3. How far will the Pacers defense go during the 2023-24 season?

The Pacers did well on offense last season, taking 10th place in the league with 116.3 points per game. But Indiana must improve its defense before facing off against some of its tougher competitors in the Central Division and beyond.

“We must get better defensively,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said in April, via Indianapolis Star Indiana Pacers beat reporter Dustin Dopirak. “In the exit meetings today, I talked to everyone about the fact that we're all going to need to take the challenge individually to lift our level, get stronger, take on more of an attitude at the defensive end.

“We're going to have to do a better job as a coaching staff. That is the best way for us to move this thing forward and advance it beyond the obvious of draft, free agency and trades.”

The Pacers ended last season with a defensive rating, or “the number of points allowed per 100 possessions by a team,” of 117.1, according to NBA.com. The figure put them just behind the Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings and Utah Jazz for 26th place in the NBA. Their 119.5 points allowed per game put them at 29th in the league. 

2. How much more can Bennedict Mathurin grow in Year 2?

Mathurin, the No.6 selection in the 2022 NBA Draft, earned a spot on the 2022-23 All-Rookie First Team after a solid first season with the Pacers. The former Arizona guard averaged 16.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game last season. He scored as many as 32 points during in a 9-point win over the Brooklyn Nets in October, hitting eight of his 16 attempts from the field and six of his nine tries from the 3-point line as the Pacers took the victory in the Barclays Center.

Mathurin earned high praise from Carlisle following a 29-point performance during a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in March.

“(Bennedict) Mathurin is learning a lot about playing as a starter in high-level games and what that's all about,” Carlisle said, via a March tweet from the Pacers. “I like his vibe, I like his approach, and I like that fact that he is a sponge for information right now.”

Mathurin must continue to prove he can take a starting role for Indiana while pairing well with Haliburton and center Myles Turner for the Pacers to take a leap during the 2023-24 season.

1. Are the Pacers ready to make a push for the playoffs?

Indiana last made the NBA playoffs during the 2019-20 season, when a Pacers squad featuring now-Oklahoma City Thunder guard Victor Oladipo was swept in the first round by the Miami Heat. Indiana finished five games behind the Chicago Bulls last season for a spot in the 2023 NBA Play-In tournament.

The Pacers must tap into the potential of their young core and newest additions to make its first push for the playoffs in just over four seasons.

“It's somewhere I want to be… We know that's the goal,” Haliburton said of the Pacers playoffs hopes for next season, via AllPacers Publisher Tony East. “So just watching and seeing how the game differentiates from regular season. I need to be in there, I need to be in the playoffs. That's the goal.”