Power forward Pascal Siakam and the Indiana Pacers are currently in the midst of a big offseason as for the future direction of the franchise. While the Pacers haven't made any big moves so far, this summer is all about improvement for some of the team's younger players, while even veterans like Siakam also look for ways to add to their games.

Of course, last year was a major success for the Pacers, as Indiana backdoored their way into the Eastern Conference Finals and ironically ended up giving the Boston Celtics their most competitive series of the postseason despite the fact that it ended up in a sweep.

Now, Siakam is hoping to help lead the Pacers even further heading into next season, as evidenced by his comments to some young hoopers recently (via Siakam on X, formerly Twitter).

“We can’t go into it thinking like, ‘Oh we did so well last year’… It doesn’t work like that… Whatever we did last year, we gotta do that sh*t triple to even get to where we were,” said Siakam.

Can the Pacers do it again?

Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam (43) during the third quarter during game four of the eastern conference finals for the 2024 NBA playoffs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Siakam is likely correct in his assessment that in order to advance to the conference finals again, let alone get all the way to the NBA Finals, the Pacers will have to do a lot more than they did in the 2024 NBA postseason.

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The Pacers deserve credit for taking advantage of the opportunities they were given during that run, but the reality of the situation is that they likely would have been sent home in the first round by the Milwaukee Bucks had Giannis Antetokounmpo been healthy, and if the New York Knicks in round two were even close to one hundred percent, that also almost assuredly would have ended in a Pacers loss.

However, you can only play the team that's in front of you, and there is still plenty to be excited about in Indiana, most notably the progression of All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton. Haliburton had a bit of a strange 2023-24 campaign, as for the first half of the year he looked like one of the best point guards in the NBA before fizzling dramatically down the stretch and then somewhat rekindling his flame in the playoffs.

In order for the Pacers to once again contend in the Eastern Conference, both Haliburton and Siakam will have to bring their A Games in 2024-25, along with improvement from Indiana's talented collection of young role players.