The Indiana Pacers have the makings of a potential breakout team in the 2023-24 NBA season. Even though their 35-47 record and -3.3 net rating may not suggest that they are a team that's poised to make a run for a playoff spot, looks can be deceiving. The Pacers went 6-20 in games their All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton missed, and prior to the elbow and knee injuries he suffered on January 11th, the Pacers were 23-19 with a net rating of -0.2. The Pacers were playing solid ball before injuries took their toll on them last year.

While there were signs of encouragement last season, there was also a lot to be excited about this offseason in Indiana as well. The Pacers lured Bruce Brown away from the champion Denver Nuggets, and added a pair of first-round draft picks in Jarace Walker and Ben Sheppard. On the trade market, Indiana also acquired Obi Toppin in a deal with the New York Knicks for a couple of second-round picks.

All of these additions, as well as improvement from the likes of Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin, and Andrew Nembhard, should make this season better than last year for the Pacers. With all the young talent on their roster, it's safe to assume that someone is going to enjoy a breakout campaign, so let's pick out one player who is likely to take a step forward this upcoming season.

Pacers player who will breakout in 2023-24 season: Obi Toppin

Indiana Pacers, Obi Toppin

What made Toppin such a sought-after prospect coming out of Dayton was his versatility on offense. Because he's so athletic, Toppin can roll to the rim and catch alley oops out of the sky while also burying three-point shots when they are open (he had a 41.7 three-point percentage in college). Toppin's shooting hasn't been nearly as good in the NBA, as he's only a career 32.5 percent shooter from behind the arc, but he showed improvement by hitting 34.4 percent of his threes last season.

While Toppin's improvement as a shooter last season was great for his development, employing him strictly as a shooter isn't the best use of his skills. More than half of Toppin's shots last year were threes, but that's what New York needed from him since he was typically playing alongside either Mitchell Robinson or Isaiah Haternstein.

The reason this was necessary for the Knicks was because Toppin simply isn't big enough to play as a small-ball center. According to Cleaning the Glass, the Knicks' 127.8 defensive rating with Toppin on the floor without one of Robinson, Hartenstein, or Jericho Sims alongside him ranked in the first percentile of all lineups in the NBA. That's bad. Really bad.

Fortunately for Toppin, not only does he now play alongside one of the best rim protectors in the NBA in Myles Turner, but Turner can also shoot the ball. Turner is a career 35.3 percent shooter from deep on decent volume (2.8 attempts per game) and has shot at least four threes per game in each of his last four seasons.

Playing with Turner should allow Toppin to shine more as a roll man. On top of that spacing he will get next to Turner, Toppin also has the luxury of playing with one of the best playmakers in the NBA in Tyrese Haliburton. Haliburton ranked 11th in points per possession among pick-and-roll ball handlers with at least 200 such possessions and was in the 86th percentile of all players in overall efficiency. Lobs like this in pick-and-roll sets should be a nightly occurrence with Toppin.

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Toppin is also slick enough as a ball handler to work in some dribble handoff action with Haliburton.

Toppin had to adjust to the circumstances around him in New York. He eventually made it work, but he also was never able to showcase his full repertoire in the Big Apple, but he can do that now in Indiana. And that's what makes him a premier breakout candidate for the upstart Pacers in the 2023-24 season.