One of the few remaining items on the Indiana Pacers 2024 offseason checklist is their rookie scale team options, but it’s an easy item for the team to navigate.

Outside of considering an extension for center Isaiah Jackson, the Pacers don’t have much in terms of roster decisions to consider this summer. For players on rookie scale deals, their contracts have two team options — they cover the third and fourth seasons of the deal. But they have to be decided on a full season in advance. For example, as a player on a rookie-scale deal enters their second season, their third-year team option must have a decision made.

The deadline for these decisions is October 31. Rookie scale deals are given, by default, to players drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft.

Indiana has three players who have a rookie-scale team option decision coming within the next two months. Ben Sheppard and Jarace Walker, who were drafted in 2023, as well as Bennedict Mathurin, who was drafted in 2022, have team options on their contract coming their way.

Walker and Sheppard’s deal have a third-year team option decision while Mathurin’s deal has a fourth year option. There are some specifics involved, but all three choices are no-brainers.

Sheppard was in the Pacers playoff rotation as a rookie and started a few games. His team option, which covers the 2025-26 season, is for just under $2.8 million. Walker’s is for $6.6 million — he was selected in the NBA Draft lottery.

Mathurin’s is a fourth-year team option, and he’s a high-ceiling youngster. His option is for just over $9.1 million, and he is a talented scorer and play finisher for a 22-year old. His growth is a massive storyline for Indiana this season.

Sheppard and Mathurin are young rotation players, which makes their team options a no-brainer. Walker doesn’t play as much yet, but his potential at an important position is high, and Indiana has no reason to decline his option. There isn’t any debate with these decisions.

The blue and gold have an expensive and full roster for the 2025-26 campaign already. Keeping young, cheap talent is a must. The Pacers almost certainly will pick up all three of these team options and keep developing the youngsters.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For a second straight week, Indiana’s defense put together a near-perfect performance.

The offense may get more of the plaudits after Friday’s 77-3 win over Western Illinois because it set the program’s all-time single-game scoring and total yardage (701) records. But including last week’s 31-7 win over Florida International, Indiana’s defense has kept pace with its counterpart.

Defensive coordinator Bryant Haines’ unit allowed just 182 total yards and 3.1 yards per play against FIU, and it was even more stifling on Friday night, giving up 121 total yards and 2.3 yards per play to Western Illinois. 

But in both games, the defense’s lone letdown came in the same moment. Indiana allowed a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive against FIU, which concluded with just 52 seconds left in the first half. On Friday, Western Illinois’ drove 69 yards across 12 plays and settled for a field goal with 30 seconds left in the first half.

Despite the lopsided scores in both games, those end-of-half drives left something to be desired.

“That was pretty bad, I’ll be completely honest,” Indiana defensive end Mikail Kamara said Friday. “That was pretty bad. The same thing happened last week, so we gotta end the halves a lot better. That’s something we’re definitely going to be focusing on, especially that middle eight. That’s something we gotta do better going forward.”

The reason behind those drives?

“Maybe just a little bit of complacency,” Kamara said. “Guys just kind of settling down, getting ready for halftime instead of keeping their foot on the pedal.”

And the solution?

“Communicating whenever we see some of the guys get a little too happy, not happy, but when they get a little too fat and happy, we just gotta bring ‘em down a little bit,” Kamara said. “But little things like this, them scoring at halftime, things like that should humble us down.”

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said postgame there were a few defensive mistakes and substitutions during Western Illinois’ scoring drive, though he didn’t want to give a full evaluation until watching the film. But in general, he knows from 14 years of head coaching that the beginning and end of halves are crucial to sustained success.

“We’ve been starting the third quarter well, but we haven’t finished the half well,” Cignetti said. “We’ve been starting the game well and finishing the game well too. There’s a lot more positives, but just like 98 percent of the teams in the country, we have a couple things to work on and improve on.”

Outside of those two drives, Indiana’s defense has mimicked what made James Madison successful in 2023. Kamara and five other first-year Hoosiers played on that James Madison defense, which led the nation in tackles for loss and run defense. 

Indiana totaled four sacks and eight tackles for loss against FIU, followed by six sacks and eight tackles for loss against Western Illinois. Neither team was able to run the ball, with FIU gaining 53 yards on 30 carries and Western Illinois rushing for just 12 yards on 26 attempts. 

Kamara said nothing is really new from last season for him, it’s just a matter of proving it at the Big Ten level. That begins next week at UCLA, and he’s confident defensive success in the first two games will carry over.

“We feel good, but teams like [Western Illinois], we gotta keep a foot on their jugular,” Kamara said. “That’s what good teams do, and that’s how we view ourselves as. That’s something – obviously a win’s a win and it’s hard to win in college football, but this is something that should not happen.”

“I don’t know what you guys think of our defense right now, but I expect us to blow all that out the water. I expect us to really show everyone what this defense is about.”

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Each and every Saturday, WISH-TV highlights a local company together with our partners at Indiana Grown.

This week, Kristen Gilkison, owner and chief executive officer of Timbar, joined News 8 at Daybreak.

Timbar is a new range of protein bars that are made with plant-based protein and natural sweeteners. The protein bars are also completely free of gluten, eggs, dairy, whey, and other artificial preservatives and ingredients.

Gilkison says her inspiration for the protein bars came after she was diagnosed with celiac disease.

“I am a physician assistant and have always been passionate about preventative medicine,” she said. “And several years ago, I was diagnosed with celiac disease and some other food allergies. That inspired me to get in the kitchen.”

She says that as a busy working professional, she needed healthy options but struggled to find them.

“Most protein bars on the market weren’t really that healthy. They had a lot of artificial ingredients, sweeteners, were high in sugar, or just didn’t taste good. So, I got to work creating a protein bar that was well-balanced, healthy, free of most of the major allergens and that tasted great,” Gilkison said.

Timbar recently launched a chocolate peanut butter-flavored bar, and Gilkison says they plan to launch more this year.

The protein bars can be purchased on Timbar’s website, Amazon, or Market Wagon. They will also be available at the Indiana Grown Marketplace at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds, which runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 14.

Watch the full video above to learn more.