The Indiana Pacers and coach Rick Carlisle have agreed on a multi-year contract extension, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Rick Carlisle's Pacers started the season with a 143-120 win over the Washington Wizards, and he is being rewarded with the contract extension. He is three wins away from 900 in his career.

This is Carlisle's second stint with the Pacers. He previously coached them from 2003 through 2007. He returned to the Pacers in the 2021-2022 season after spending 13 seasons coaching the Dallas Mavericks.

Carlisle started his head coaching career with the Detroit Pistons in 2001. He stayed there for two seasons before his first stint with the Pacers. He led the Mavericks to the NBA title in 2011, and hopes to achieve that with the Pacers.

Carlisle showed his ability to put together a strong offensive team in the season opener against the Wizards. Scoring 143 points shows the upside offensively for the team, especially with a player like Tyrese Haliburton as the headlining player.

The Pacers missed out on the NBA play-in tournament and the playoffs last year, the expectation is they take a step and make it this year with the young talent that they have. Carlisle is expected to be the guy to lead them in that direction. The organization giving him a contract extension is a demonstration of faith that it will happen.

It will be interesting to see if the Pacers can take a step forward as a team this season. They have been building towards contention over the last couple of years. With Carlisle locked in, it is time to demonstrate that they can compete.