Congrats to Rick Carlisle on Winning His 1,000th NBA Game… It Only Took 31 Days to Get from 999 to 1,000

Jason Miller. Getty Images.

On the morning of June 22nd, 2025 the state of Indiana woke up to a winner take all game 7 in the NBA Finals against the OKC Thunder. We all know how that ended with the Thunder lifting their first ever Larry O'Brien Trophy and the Pacers just lost their superstar for the whole 2025-26 season in Tyrese Haliburton to a torn achilles.

Justin Ford. Getty Images.

Going into this season the Pacers also lost Myles Turner to the Bucks and after that it became very clear what the Pacers front office mindset was. Suck ass this year and draft a good player in the 2026 Draft. This has been very clear due to the Pacers 7-31 record. I know they don't have two of their star players from last year but holy shit, I didn't expect them to be this bad. Shit, they only need 8 more losses for their under in their win total to hit this season. 

After beating my atrocious Sacramento Kings on December 8th, 2025 Coach Rick Carlisle was at win #999 looking to become the 11th coach all-time to reach 1,000 wins in the NBA. Little did we know it would take a full 31 days for Coach Carlisle to get that 1,000th win, and he did it with this lineup…

Just looking at Twitter the fan base has accepted this year is a complete throw away and majority of Pacers fan accounts have been doing mock drafts since November. I have never been one to accept tanking as it just makes it miserable to watch the team, but if this is what they have to do pair Haliburton with Darryn Peterson or AJ Dybantsa so be it. 

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I’ll say this: it would be one of the funniest outcomes possible if the Pacers drop like seven spots in the draft lottery and their season-long tank completely fails because of a ping pong ball getting picked (if they have even half the luck the Memes has had in 2026, they’ll be just fine). I know this blog was supposed to be about Rick Carlisle, but I really wanted to highlight how bad or maybe good, depending on who you ask — this Pacers season has been. Next year, with a healthy squad, Carlisle is probably on a tight leash, which honestly isn’t fair because the entire goal this year was to suck, and he’s absolutely crushing that assignment. Anyways, Pacer fans will be waiting till May, not for a playoff game but the NBA Draft Lottery (which is probably already rigged.)