A visual representation of Kelly Oubre's funny quote about running into a Zu screen this week. 💪

Protect this man at all costs

I never took preseason games too seriously before, but its pretty cool just how integral preseason games are to building the chemistry, esp seeing the progress of the Hali-Zu connection from Game 1 and 3.

Interesting to note: Ty wasn't supposed to play in OKC, but decided to since he missed the game vs the Hawks. 🤯

Love that these guys ask fan questions and not the media questions, and that Coach Carlisle answers so elaborately 👏.

LFG!

DAZN is supposed to be free for "Pacers season ticket holders".

As somebody with only a half-season ticket package, I explicitly asked my ticket rep a couple weeks ago if those of us with lowly half-season plans will get a free DAZN pass. He responded by saying something like "yeah just give us a little bit to get access codes out."

Still haven't heard anything. With DAZN pricing going up soon, I'm wondering if anybody here is able to confirm/deny that half-season packages = free DAZN?

Thanks!

Just dipping in in reverse order. It's all basically Nesmith until the Topps era, when it broadens into Pacers team. We've worked our way through prospectus and the still woefully incomplete Topps Update (3 Nesmiths and a McConnell). Now we are to the meat of a pretty significant year if you are an Indiana fan and/or Topps collector.

Not only do the inspiring shots of the '25-26 sets reflect the Pacers' superlative NBA Finals effort of 2025, but they are the first licensed Topps issue since '09-10, Curry's rookie season. In other words, a Hobby milestone.

The Bowman legacy... one of the OG card manufacturers, the 1948 Bowman rookie George Mikan #69 a touchstone for vintage basketball collectors. A PSA 3 just sold at auction with 33 bids for $7,150 (from the PSA Vault on eBay). Then there is the famous 1951 Mantle Bowman rookie, overshadowed in price and image recognition by the 1952 Topps. At that time Topps and Bowman were fierce competitors.

I remember when the Bowman brand was purchased by Topps in the early 1990s and came out with some classic cardboard, even cheaper than Topps flahship (and with gum!). And when Bowman Chrome emerged as the "first" baseball rookie—the player's sought after iteration (more than Topps flagship even) in the late 1990s.

I think for basketball rookies it has always been Topps Chrome first. Except of course '86 Fleer and the Panini era (2010-2025), when there was no Topps.

The current Bowman reboot uniquely combines college, pro, women's, and men's, which I like. Collector-investors actually found this a demerit, which depressed prices compared with Topps Chrome and made these surprisingly affordable.

I consider this basically a complete team set of '25-26 Bowman rarities. Arguably, a reptilian /25 (a parallel I really like) being the best Haliburton could be improved. But other than that, I think I have the bases covered. Two each true black /10s of Nembhard, Siakam, and Nesmith. True black /10s of all the others except Myles Turner (who cares?) and the addition of a Zubac (he had just been acquired when Bowman came out).

On the Nesmith front, this is not technically a base card, it's an auto issue, all of which are numbered (the regular silver is /499). At that point, not expecting a Topps Update surprise, I was giving up hope there would be a Nesmith base card at all during the seminal "first Topps" year. This is probably my favorite AA card ever made design wise. I think it actually positions him as a star on the team, you can tell the players' status by the image selected. I also really like the images for Obi, Siakam, and Taelon Peters (wonder if he makes the Spurs roster?) Haliburton's expression reminds me of the famous 96-97 Allen Iverson "cry baby" Topps rookie.