Veteran coach Rick Carlisle has not led the Pacers to the playoffs in the first two seasons of his second stint with the franchise, but the front office appears confident in the direction of the team’s rebuild. Following a season-opening 143–120 win over the Wizards, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Carlisle and Indiana have signed a multi-year contract extension.
Details of the new extension have not yet been reported.
Carlisle returned to the franchise ahead of the 2021–22 season and has a 60–104 record through the first two years back with the team. He originally coached Indiana from 2003 to ’07, posting a 181–147 record and leading the team to the playoffs three times in four seasons, including a trip to the Eastern Conference finals in 2004.
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Carlisle, who also served as a Pacers assistant from 1997 to 2000, is best known for his tenure leading the Mavericks from ’08 to ’21, during which he captured the 2011 NBA title.
He entered the current season with a career record of 896–793, and will likely become the 14th coach in NBA history to win 900 career games at some point over the next few weeks. Carlisle is second among active coaches in career wins, behind only Spurs legend Gregg Popovich, who is the league’s all-time leader with 1,366 victories.
