The team that is expected to make the biggest jump compared to last season is the Indiana Pacers. Tyrese Haliburton returning from injury is obviously the main reason for that, but let’s not overlook the impact Ivica Zubac will have at the center position. He is a major upgrade over Myles Turner in the rebounding department, and I feel like he and Hali have the upside to become one of the better one-two punches in the entire league. The Pacers also added Kelly Oubre Jr. and Larry Nance Jr. in the offseason, adding to their scoring ability and depth. Head coach Rick Carlisle has some serious firepower at his disposal, and after Indy never really got a chance to defend their East title last year, they could be one of this season's feel-good stories.
New Orleans is anything but a feel-good story coming into this year. This team was mainly focused on developing their young guys last season, after they added a couple of interesting names in Bennedict Mathurin and AJ Johnson, plus they extended Saddiq Bey on a three-year deal. As it’s been the case over the past few seasons, everyone is pointing at Zion Williamson and whether or not this is the year he makes that leap. This will be Zion’s seventh NBA season, and so far he just hasn’t been able to stay healthy, wasting most of the talent that had him as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. All is not bleak for the Pelicans though, as they do have a solid scorer in Trey Murphy III who is showing signs of improvement each year.
For their home opener, the Pels are 3.5-point dogs against Indy, which I’d say is accurate considering the shape both teams are in at the start of the season. Indiana’s preseason showed us they’ll be involved in a ton of high-scoring games this year, and only one of the 4 games saw less than 230 points scored. The last two meetings both cashed on the over, seeing 246 and 237 points. I’ll back the points in this one as well.
Pacers vs Pelicans prediction: Over 240.5 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.
