The Pacers' Model

Win or lose, the 2024-25 Indiana Pacers are something special. After an undistinguished start to the season, they were the fourth-best team in the National Basketball Association, amassing a regular season record of 34-14 since the start of the year. In the playoffs, after defeating underdog Milwaukee, they beat the odds and defeated heavily favored Cleveland and New York. As of this writing, they have taken two games from one of the teams most heavily favored to win the championship in decades, the Oklahoma City Thunder. And in so doing, they have exemplified key features of classical liberalism.