Kevin Pritchard Media Availability (July 7, 2025) | Indiana Pacers

Kevin Pritchard Media Availability (July 7, 2025) | Indiana Pacers

God, I had an opening statement and now I’m thinking about something a little different that I saw Ty Tai’s coming in here and I feel like it’s really cool that he’s in here watching someone crackles. That’s I don’t know if that happens every day or every team, but he’s out here really kind of rooting the guys on and that that should tell you what kind of guy he is. Um, I’m sorry this took a few days. Uh we were a little busy with the finals and the draft and free agency. So happy fourth to everybody. Uh I think I’ I’ I’d like to start off with this kind of first and foremost and that is um you know the last two years have been the best two years of my life. And a couple years ago, we decided that we were going to, you know, look at growing a team and we had to break a team down that we thought was a decent team, but it wasn’t good enough. And so, I know some of you have said in the past that maybe we should have done that earlier. But, you know, when you look back 24 months ago, 36 months ago, uh we were at a place where we needed to grow a team and really I wouldn’t say retool or rebuild. I I don’t know if those are the right words, but uh we knew we had to go in a different direction. And to be sitting here, standing here, you know, coming off an Eastern Conference Finals last year, uh, and a finals this year, uh, is something it’s, it’s really hard for me to put in words because of how proud I am of, uh, a lot of people in here. uh you know, Tai become blossoming into this superstar and a player that uh truly can, you know, elevate everybody else, making all NBA team to Seakum, making a big trade for Seakum and and him growing here, you know, like he came here and we thought we had a a guy that was going to be a finished product and yet he has elevated his game. And then a a bunch of guys like Andrew and Aaron and Ben and uh TJ and Obie uh just completely elevating their games over the last couple years. But I think the secret sauce uh that I I think may be overlooked a little bit is that the the strength of our team is in our collective and our guys completely bought into being a good group uh both on the on and off the court. like I have never seen a group uh be be so close on the court and uh but also off the court and that that’s really fun for me to to watch and you know you know fast forward we’re 10 and 15 and struggling a little bit and you see Tai really get his mojo back and then we get uh Drew and Aaron and um healthy and then we saw this growth again and and you know early in the season this season uh we weren’t sure what we were going to be but we always believed that we would come together what that ceiling was uh we truly didn’t know but I mean I am I mean I couldn’t be more proud uh and it’s it’s it’s not just because of the wins everybody thinks well you know you get to the finals you should be proud. But there’s been teams that I’ve been on that have gotten into the playoffs and it’s been okay. But I wanted this group to have a lot of success because of who they are. And during uh the season, there were so many times where on individual possessions, you could see what we were and what we are. And that is we work our butts off on defense. we pick up full court and we are without a doubt the most unselfish team in the league. And for me, um I always ask this question at as I’m going home after a game. Do we play hard? Do we play smart? And do we play on uh unselfish? And I can’t remember one game where I didn’t feel like that that was the case. You know, 82 games is a lot of games. Uh, but I’m just really proud of this group. Feel like, uh, you know, you have a a thought in your head of what you want a team to be and you couple that team, our group of guys with the best coaches in the NBA and, you know, sky’s the limit. Uh, the last thing I’ll say before I take questions is, you know, it is an incredible grind in the playoffs. There’s high highs and low lows. Someone described it as misery and relief. And I’m not so sure it’s that, but I remember specifically uh talking with Tai before game seven and I went up to him and I said, “How you feeling?” He said, “I feel great.” And I kind of walked off and he goes, “Are you nervous?” I go, “Yeah, I’m a little,” you know, I didn’t want to say, “Yeah, I’m freaking really nervous.” And he looked me dead in the eye and he goes, “Don’t worry, we got this.” And I remember walking into the game and him hitting three three-pointers and I go, in my mind, I’m like, “We’re winning this game.” And we were 24 minutes and an injury away. Uh, but that doesn’t take how I feel about this group. the coaches, coaches, Rick and uh Lloyd and Mike and Jenny and Jim. I mean, that was a master class in coaching this past year and really two years. And it’s a real credit to them that they got this team to where they did. Um, and I’m hopeful that we can continue to do that. We we have some challenges with uh Tai’s uh injury, but you know, we like what we have. And I think, you know, we’ve done the best when we’ve had a chip on our shoulder, when everybody counts us out in a series or a season, and I’m not so sure you should count us out yet. So, with that, I’ll I’ll take some questions. You mentioned those challenges that that injury now presents. How did that change what you view as your outlook for this season and even seasons beyond this coming up? Well, you know, when you look at kind of the East, the way it’s broken down, there’s been some major injuries and there’s been some transformational teams kind of making big big changes, but you know, you don’t replace Tai. That that’s that’s not and if you do, it’s it’s in a collective. But you got to remember, we have a a bunch of guys that are experienced. They’ve been in some of the biggest, toughest games. And I expect Drew and Aaron and Ben and Jarus, you know what you have in Siakum, like he’s going to come back and he’s going to play hard as can be. So, um, I’m hopeful that we can I’m hopeful that people write us off. Let’s put it that way. I guess on that note, did Tyresese’s injury ultimately change the way Miles’s negotiation went? Did that gave the ownership of less? I was wondering when that that question was it was only the first or second, but I would say this that um regarding and I don’t want to get into the specifics of um Miles because the truth is he gave 10 great years here. I loved having him be here. I hope I’m friends with him for a long time. Um, I I know this that Herb Simon and Steven Rails and the Simon family were fully prepared to go deep into the tax to keep him. And we really wanted to do that. and we were negotiating in good faith, but what happens in this league is sometimes you’re negotiating, but uh because a guy is unrestricted, uh he has the right to say that’s the offer I want. I’m going to take it and and that’s best for my family. And again, we were in good faith negotiations. Uh it was a little surprising that you know how Milwaukee created that. I don’t know if you know we always say in in in uh in our conference room there’s there’s cap there’s cap teams that have cap space and there’s shadow teams that have cap space you can go get but it becomes very challenging by buying out or making trades and and you know hat tip to Milwaukee to do that. So, I I think the most important thing is we were deep in in conversations with Miles and then uh and then we saw that uh that he’d accepted an offer with Milwaukee. Again, uh that’s part of this business that is challenging. I could tell you this also that there are two kind of things that I believe that it is kind of fundamental to the to the league right now and that is change is inevitable and expect the unexpected and I can’t tell you that you know we were fully expected for that. Can you say if that negotiation would have been any different if Tai didn’t get um I don’t think so. like, you know, again, we keep Miles at the number we were talking about or in that ballpark because I kind of felt like it was still a little bit ongoing. Um, and with the moves that we were talking about doing, we weren’t trickling into the tax. We were over a a second threshold. We weren’t quite at the second apron, which is totally punitive. And I would never recommend for us to go in to the second because there’s so many restrictions and you’re seeing teams like Boston and you know a lot of teams saying we can’t be in that and I don’t know if that’s considered the new hard cap but I can say that we were prepared to go right up to that. Um so difficult to answer that question in entirety. Just to be clear, did you have an opportunity to match or exceed what Milwaukee offered? You said good faith negotiations. I assume that was between yourselves and Miles. It was me and Miles’s agent, right? And I just felt like we were working towards a deal. Um, but again, you know, when you’re unrestricted, as soon as you hear a number that you feel like is good for you, then he had to I think he felt like he had to take that. Were you blindsided? Blindsided. We did we did not see Milwaukee as that team and you know we would we would have been open on a sign and trade because it’s sort of mutually beneficial but we didn’t get to that point unfortunately. We I saw Sham’s uh tweet it and that’s how I knew that that Miles was taking the but again I don’t that’s not it it’s his it’s his opportunity. It’s his right to say, “Hey, that’s it, and I’m going in a different direction.” But it was never acrimonious. It was always pleasant going back and forth. I think that there was a number he was trying to hit and we were, you know, I think we were in the ballpark, but that’s my opinion. It must not have been for him. When you saw, real quick, when you saw Sham’s tweet, what was your your initial reaction? What What did you do? Um, I think I was shocked. I mean, if I’m being perfectly honest, uh, again, I thought we were kind of going back and forth in a in an open way and we we’ve done big deals with that agency and and they’re great guys. I enjoy doing business with them and we’ll be doing more business with them. But, you know, Miles must have heard something in that that said, I’m going to take it right now. Kevin, what is Miles legacy? How how this franchise is where it is right now? I mean, I think he’s one of the best players that’s ever played here. I mean, I put him right up there. 10 years, you know, again, change is inevitable in this sport. Unfortunately, you’re you’re not seeing these teams that are together for four and five and 6 years because of uh the way the cap is structured now. Um, I like some of that and some of it’s very challenging for a for a team like us. But again, I I can’t reiterate this enough. We we were fully prepared to go deep into the tax. We were we were into sort of that third trunch of paying taxes if we were to keep what we wanted to do together. But um I remember some big blocks that he’s had, some big shots, and more than that, what what he did to this community, what he was about off the community. And there is no better person than Miles. Like we really wanted to keep them. Um but it it didn’t work out. And and I I I think what we’ll be doing, and this is more of a Rick’s uh question, is we’re going to be we’re going to have three or four really good centers that will come in and compete for a starting position. And we’ve always done well when there’s a lot of competition at a position. And somebody I have a feeling somebody will raise their level and and give us a chance to to have a good player. But I love Miles. I hope that uh him and I can can be friends for a long time, but you know, you’re going to have to ask him some of those questions. But he’s meant everything to this organization because he’s gone through some tough times and he stuck with us and there were some times where we stuck with him and and gave him a pretty big extension in the earlier one and we frontloaded that and so um you know he he at some point in time we’re going to be able to come back and reflect on it. Right now there’s some rawness probably on his side and our side too. But there’s we’ve had changes in the past and this is it it doesn’t feel like that at all. It feels like he made a decision for his family and Herb Simon myself we fully understand it. Kevin, how do you I guess replace a player of that caliber just knowing how much you meant to the franchise and you perhaps don’t get that far without him looking at this past season. How do you replace Miles Turner? There are no unless he’s got a clone. I’m not sure you can replace Miles Turner. But, you know, we we we traded for Jay uh Huff. We’re signing uh James Weisman today. And then we still have one person we’re close to finalizing that’s been on the team and we know him. And I think those three players and Tony Bradley, we have an option on him. I think those guys will compete for that spot and we’ll see uh who wins out. You see it in this league all the time that there are a lot of really good players in the league and at at some point when given opportunity guys can really grow into it. Now sometimes they don’t and that’ll be our job. The other thing is I think we’ve proven as a staff that at the appropriate time we will get super aggressive. It may not be a center, it may be another position or it may be a combination of players and we bring back and we’re always opportunistic for that. Now whether we get that done tomorrow or at the trade deadline, I’m not sure. But I always feel like that that we’re always looking for an opportunity and there’s some value players and then you sometimes you go for the home run and Tyrese was the grand slam and Sakum was the the home run for us and I don’t want to promise that but I kind of feel like that there’s that out there. It hasn’t presented itself today. But we’re we’re we’re ready for it and we’re ready to put in picks and all kinds of things if it helps us take the next uh jump. And I think we’ve proven that kind of the last couple years that we’re not afraid of risk. It’s always a risk when you do that. When you make those big trades, you never know how. Like I remember when we did the Tyrese trade, uh, you know, that was that was a tough sending out a two-year all-star, but it was it was good for them and it it’s been good for us. So, we’re not we’re not afraid to look at a big trade and and pull the trigger. You just said you’re signing James. what made that the right move based on what you’ve seen in the rehab and what made you guys confident in well you know investing we saw a lot of potential in him in the preeason and going up until his injury uh very long athletic uh becoming a better shooter I think he’s getting to that point where his injury is allowing him to get on the court and not full but do a lot and I think Jim Borland has done a great job with him and Isaiah quite frankly uh this short and summer and they’ll they’ll continue to work and and again you don’t replace Miles but a combination of those players are we’re going to have to rely on. How did Tyrese feel if you even talked to him about Miles leaving you? Yeah, we we talked about it yesterday but that’s that’s between me and him. That’s a very private conversation. Uh you mentioned an internal guy. Is that Isaiah by chance? That’s a good guess. I don’t know if I don’t know if I can say that until the Yeah, we’re moving a good direction with with with Isaiah and and quite frankly when I think about Isaiah and what he did in the playoffs, not this year, but the previous year, he had some big moments against New York and as a as a player at his age, I think the sky’s is the limit for him. So, you know, when you look at at Jay and you look at at uh James, I think we’ve got some real upside guys and you know, it really all depends on how they come in here and how they fit into the system and how they play with other guys. But I’m very hopeful that we can uh have a three or four good players at that position that can can do a good job. You got a couple guys that are up for to go for uh re um extensions in uh in Benedict in Aaron. What can you say about that? You’re playing. Can I Can I just have like 24 hours, please? No. I mean, literally, guys. Yeah, sure. We went straight from the the finals to the draft, free agency to summer league. Uh yeah, we we’ll look at all those kind of things, but you know, I think that’s a little premature. we’ve got all summer and right up until next year to do those. So, but you know, they both had good years and you know, when I think about Aaron, I think about, you know, all those three-pointers and changing a game in 5 minutes. You know, it wasn’t eight points or 9 seconds, but it felt like right up there with it. Um, and and you know, those guys, in my opinion, still have levels to move up, and that’s what I like about this team. We’re We’re not this team that like, okay, that’s what they are. Let’s They didn’t make it. Let’s go in a different direction. What I feel like is important is you keep this base of players and you look to use draft picks or other ways to go get another player that we feel like fits us. Because one thing is very clear now is we have a culture. Our players develop this incredible culture. And I will not bring an overtalented guy that doesn’t feel like he fits the culture. We’d rather have guys like that that can grow into our culture. And so that that’s our job now. And I don’t know if it’ll again I you know, you never know with trades. Sometimes tomorrow there can be a trade and sometimes it’s at the trade deadline, but we’re going to be active. We’re going to be as active as we’ve been and if a big deal comes I’m I’m really excited about that possibility. Kevin, have your expectations for this year changed with Tai’s injury internally? You know, expectations is a really hard word for me because if you would have said two years ago, you know, my expectations were you’re going to be Eastern Conference finalist and in, you know, 24 minutes from winning an NBA championship. So, I think the one thing I’ve learned from that is this is you put the best players out on the court and you let them determine how good they become. And if you have enough talent, you you tend to over overachieve. And I just I can’t over over tell you this that I have so much confidence in our coaching staff. Our coaching staff develops players and they teach them a way that is not only, you know, they get better as individuals, they get better as a team. And I I feel like, you know, we’ve done a good job of 1 plus 1 + 1 equals 10. And that’s what I as as a a manager and an organization, alls I want is can we tap out to our potential? And this year, I think we tapped out at at the top level. And again, like in my mind, no one can tell me that we weren’t going to win a championship if Tai stays healthy healthy. You know, that’s biased. I understand that’s very biased, but I really believe he had that eye of the tiger, man. He was coming out and I saw our guys I even at even at halftime, I I I felt like our guys felt like they could still win 24 minutes and hat tip to Oklahoma City. They played great in that second half. The one thing I could tell you is within this this group that I think you get very hungry to do it again and be be, you know, playing at the highest level. This community, what they did, our fans were incredible. Like I’ve never seen more jerseys and shirts and flags and you know, I had a a lady um I’m getting gas with. There was an older lady. She was in her 70s or 80s. And uh I had a Pacer hat and she goes, “Hey, are you a Pacer fan?” I said, “Yeah, yeah, I’m sort of sort of a Pacer fan.” And she she looked at me, she’s like, “I am so proud of this team and I just I want them to win cuz I just like everybody on the team.” And she goes, “So so what do you do?” She asked me by name. She said, “Well, who are you?” I said, “Okay, I’m a picture.” And then she goes, “Uh, what do you do for the team?” I said, “Well, I I you know, I’m I’m part of a management group.” And and then I said my name and she goes, “Never heard of you.” So, um Tai said he had um We have time for a couple more, guys. Yeah. Tai said he had no regrets playing in game seven, obviously rupturing his Achilles and things like that. How do you view just how all that went down? And and was that a conversation that you all had with him? Like, hey, you could tear your Achilles if Are you We We had that. We probably had 20 hours of calls and discussions and you know our the doctors and we went to sort of the the guy that’s the the best in the business Ali and he said it’s a low probability. So I was in this unbelievable stressful balance of how do you tell a kid you can’t play in game seven after you played in game six and didn’t have it. And that that was the real kind of um turning point because he he played with it and we we felt we were a little bit out of the woods and we weren’t obviously with me telling them you can’t play in game seven. And he’s told me many times this just shows you what kind of kid he is. I would do it over and over. And if you ask me would I have him do it over and over? I would not. I would not if I knew that he was going to get hurt, I would sacrifice that game because I care for the kids so much and and want him to have an incredible career. I have no doubt. That being said, I have no doubt that he will be back better than ever. You know, uh the surgery went well. It was a little higher, gets a little bit more blood to that. He will not play next year, though. We we we would not jeopardize that now. So, he don’t get any hopes up that he will play, but again, we’ll have some guys and hopefully they’ll have some opportunities to grow and uh when he gets back, that’ll be uh cherry on top, I guess. What has Todd’s mindset been um since the surgery and he starts to attack his rehab and recovery? He’s been doing great. And um you know I think the one thing that Tai feels is that the organization and maybe him personally you know he was the most overrated player in the league according to his peers and I think that he plays best when he’s really hungry and I’m guessing next year he’s going to be chomping at the bit to prove prove everybody that he’s back and we’re just going to have to take it slow and make sure he’s back to 100%. And I expect great things and him being an allNBA player and hitting big shots because we witnessed something like with clutch shot making that I’d never seen in the NBA and I’d seen some pretty good basketball players in my time. So, um, he’s doing good, but the real work starts now in terms of rehab, and that it’s it’s tough. You take a player who loves basketball. Tai just doesn’t love basketball. He talks about basketball. He is basketball. He’ll text me like, “Did you see this player in college?” Or, I mean, when you take away a life like that, that’s so important. He’s going to have to find time uh to to fill. And I I’ve joked with him he’s just he’s just gonna have to be my general manager for the next couple years which will be a lot better than Chad Dustin last does that change how you view a calf injury going forward I guess is after seeing how this went down is are you going to take that decision that more out of the hands of a player going forward if you So what we did is I I I would tell you that we’re we’re we’re doing a deep dive internally to figure out like are we doing everything we can on preventions our you know what we know right now is been three freak accidents but I think it behooves us to take a hard look internally what we can do and externally like a lot of teams soccer you know European soccer they’re doing some great stuff um but it it’s also u a product of of there’s more cutting and more moving and more, you know, hard cuts than there’s ever been before. You have to guard that for 24 seconds and you have to play it 24 seconds. Used to be the league was high pick and roll, put two guys in the corner and you can stand around. But this activity, which is what we love, like to me, when you’re playing our flow game and the ball is moving and we we’re moving eight 10 times to get an open shot, it takes a lot of energy to do that. But it to me, it’s poetry in motion. I love watching it and I I don’t think anybody did it like we did it last year, last couple years. Again, a big credit to our coaching staff. Sorry guys, we have last one right here for James. What’ you see in Cam and Tayen that want to draft those guys? What they can add to your team? Um, you know, it’s it’s interesting with Cam because I saw a little Drew. Uh, tough kid, loves the gym, lives for the gym. Uh, I like the fact that he played two and one. He was two guards the year before and then a point guard. Um, but if you ever get around him, he reminds me of personalitywise like Tai, like he’s hyper positive and he’s watching from the sidelines and he’s he’s got that kind of an it factor of that’s a pacer. You know, once you see a pacer, like I can tell that guy’s a pacer and he’ll be he’s a big- time worker and uh you know, we’re excited. He’s he’s dealing with a little bit of a hamstring in issue right now, but he’s he’s getting over that and we’re going to watch that pretty closely. And Talon, it’s interesting because when we looked at him and we put him on our rankings on the draft board, he was he was very high and he’s considered one of the best shooters in the league. And movement and shooting is what this league is about right now. And uh I look, they’re both second rounders. Uh we tend to like taking you know lowrisk high reward kind of guys. We feel like both. I don’t know how much they’ll play next year, but you know, the thing that we’ve seen already is our second round pick, Pury, he’s gained 20 lbs and he’s been the best player out on our our practice uh for summer league and, you know, we’ll see how he does out there, but we think there’s a chance he gets in our rotation in a big way. He’s showing a lot of promise and we’re excited about him. So, in the second round, they’re they’re a little bit flyers, but if they fit you culturally and they and they really want to work, they get better. Thank you.

President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard addressed the media following Monday’s Summer League practice.