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Paul George says ‘it sucks’ Pacers don’t honor his achievements. Team plans to fix that.

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Paul George says ‘it sucks’ Pacers don’t honor his achievements. Team plans to fix that.


INDIANAPOLIS — After seeing published comments from Paul George lamenting the fact he hasn’t been extensively honored for his contributions to the Indiana Pacers when he’s returned to Gainbridge Fieldhouse with other teams, the Pacers’ front office intends to reach out to George and will look to honor his accomplishments in future returns, a league source told IndyStar.

George most recently returned to Indianapolis with the 76ers on Jan. 18 but did not play in the game due to injury and his presence wasn’t acknowledged either via the public address system or the video boards at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Ky Carlin, a reporter for Sixers Wire on the USA Today Network, asked George about that and the nine-time All-Star and six-time All-NBA pick acknowledged it is a bit of a sore spot for him even though he’s on this third team since he was traded to the Thunder in July of 2017. Carlin also noted George is not featured in the pre-game historical video that includes clips of the Pacers through the decades, but no active players are featured in that video.

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“We were joking with the guys, and they were like, you know, ‘Do you still get a tribute video when you go to Indiana?’” George told Carlin. “I was like ‘I’ve never gotten a tribute video since I’ve been going back to Indiana,’ and that was eight years ago. It does, you know, it sucks. I think the way things played out still holds a grudge to them and they don’t realize the great runs we had in the time I was there.”

George was taken by the Pacers out of Fresno State with the No. 10 pick in the 2010 draft and he played his first seven seasons with the franchise, earning four All-Star selections and three third-team All-NBA nods in that span. He’s one of just six Pacers players ever to be named to an All-NBA team and one of just three to be named three times — the others being Jermaine O’Neal and Reggie Miller.

George helped lead the Pacers to the playoffs in six of his seven seasons including back-to-back trips to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2013 and 2014 where they lost in seven and six games respectively to LeBron James’ Miami Heat. The Pacers had missed the playoffs in each of the four seasons before his arrival.

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“I came into that situation where Indiana was struggling,” George told Carlin. “They just got over the ‘Malice at the Palace’. … There were some dark clouds covering that Pacers team, and, you know, they weren’t, you know, a force in the East. Obviously, they had good talent with Danny Granger there, but I thought I was a part of that resurgence.”

George, however, requested a trade in June of 2017 when he was heading into the final year of a four-year contract, saying he would not sign an extension and would leave in free agency the following summer if he was not traded. Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard at the time called the request “a gut punch.”

When the league calendar flipped over, Pritchard and the Pacers traded George to the Thunder for center Domantas Sabonis and Victor Oladipo. That deal has worked out well for the Pacers as Sabonis and Oladipo both earned All-Star nods with the Pacers. They eventually traded Sabonis to the Kings in the deal that brought All-Star Tyrese Haliburton to the Pacers and they sent Oladipo to the Rockets in a four-team deal that brought them Caris LeVert, who they eventually traded to the Cavaliers for the draft picks they used to take guards Andrew Nembhard and Ben Sheppard.

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Since the deal, George played two seasons for the Thunder and five seasons for the Clippers before joining the 76ers this summer. He’s earned five more All-Star trips, three more All-NBA nods and made more than $300 million on his past two contracts before signing a four-year deal worth approximately $211 million with the 76ers this offseason.

George was acknowledged when he returned to Gainbridge Fieldhouse with the Thunder for the first time, but it was brief. Not every player who returns to his old team is greeted by bells and whistles, but some particularly accomplished players are often greeted with extensive tributes. The Raptors showed an extensive tribute video on their videoboards when Pascal Siakam returned to Toronto for the first time after he was acquired by the Pacers last January.

George might see something closer to that the next time he returns to Gainbridge Fieldhouse, but the 76ers do not return to Indianapolis this season.



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Retro Indy: Five years ago Covid confined March Madness to Indiana

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Retro Indy: Five years ago Covid confined March Madness to Indiana


Just three days before Selection Sunday in March of 2020, the NCAA announced that March Madness, like so many other events that spring, would be cancelled due to the new virus upending life. The decision marked the first time in tournament history that the final weeks of the college basketball season would not be played, squashing Atlanta’s plans to host the Final Four.

When the following year rolled around, the NCAA decided that March Madness would not succumb to the virus once more.

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With a vaccine only on the horizon and hundreds of Americans still dying each day, the organization announced in November of 2020 that while the tournament would go on, it would certainly not be business as usual. All 67 games, NCAA officials said, would be held in one location. Central Indiana was the first choice as Indianapolis had been on tap to host the Final Four April 3-5.

The plan, said NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt in a November 2020 IndyStar article was to present “a safe, responsible and fantastic March Madness tournament unlike any other we’ve experienced.”

In January the NCAA made it official: All games would be played in and around Indianapolis in a modified version of a bubble.

Holding the tournament in one place just made sense, NCAA officials told IndyStar. Unlike in a typical year when a winning team would travel multiple times before the championship, this system would minimize travel, which could inadvertently expose players and coaches to the virus.

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Two months later when the tournament kicked off on March 18, 55 of the 67 games were scheduled to be played in Indianapolis venues, such as Gainbridge (then Bankers Life) Fieldhouse, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indiana Farmers Coliseum and Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse. Purdue’s Mackey Arena and IU’s Assembly Hall also hosted games.

While the first Covid vaccine had arrived a few months earlier, few people outside of first responders and the most vulnerable had been immunized, so in an effort to avoid large crowds, the Indianapolis sites all capped tickets at 25% capacity. That meant only 17,500 people could attend games at the largest venue, Lucas Oil Stadium. The college arenas allowed far smaller audiences, with IU limiting attendance to 500 people.

A week before the tournament began Marion County Public Health Department officials and Mayor Joe Hogsett asked attendees to make smart public health choices, such as social distancing and obeying the face masks mandate. Referees donned masks as much as possible as did coaches and players on the bench.

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The NCAA regularly tested athletes, administering 28,311 tests Covid tests during the tournament, 15 of which came back positive.

Post-mortems after the tournament asked whether the NCAA had made the right call. Two high profile deaths occurred in the aftermath of the tournament — one a University of Alabama superfan who had traveled to Indy for the games and the other a St. Elmo bartender. But proving a direct link between their deaths and the tournament would prove impossible, and some public health experts said the NCAA had done everything it could to protect athletes and fans short of canceling the event.

A study conducted by IU, Regenstrief researchers and others that appeared in August 2021 in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that while mask wearing had theoretically been compulsory, about a quarter of attendees at the games were either not wearing masks or doing so inappropriately. Still, in an IndyStar article about the study Indiana Sports Corps president Ryan Vaughn termed the event “a resounding success.”

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The following year, with a vaccine widely available and far fewer daily deaths from the virus, the tournament returned to a typical schedule, concluding in New Orleans’ Ceasars Superdome. More than 69,00 fans attended the final games, according to the NCAA. Local authorities had lifted the mask requirement by this point.

“Last year was about survival. Just having championships in any way, single site, keep everybody safe and be successful,” Gavitt said in an NCAA news release in late April 2022. “I think this year was about advancing.”



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Federal legislation that Braun calls ‘crazy’ is aimed at Bears and Indiana – Indianapolis Business Journal

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Federal legislation that Braun calls ‘crazy’ is aimed at Bears and Indiana – Indianapolis Business Journal


U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Greg Casar, D-Texas, say the bill would protect taxpayers from being extorted by team owners for huge subsidies. The legislation would likely face an uphill climb in the Republican-controlled Congress.



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Record warmth followed by strong storms tonight | March 26, 2026

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Record warmth followed by strong storms tonight | March 26, 2026


INDIANAPOLIS (WISH-TV) – Strong thunderstorms likely later this evening with all severe weather threats possible. It is going to be warm and windy with record highs today. Much cooler air works into Indiana for the end of the week.

TODAY: Partly cloudy conditions later this afternoon with warm and breezy conditions. It is going to be a beautiful and summer-like day across parts of Indiana. We will look for high temperatures to climb into the lower eighties which will set a new daily high record. The record for today is 80 set back in 1907. Winds will be gusty out of the southwest near 20 to 30 mph.

TONIGHT: A cold front approaches the state bringing a really good chance of strong to severe thunderstorms. A few thunderstorms may develop out ahead of the main line and some of those thunderstorms could contain some large hail along with a tornado risk as well. We are under a level 3 risk of strong storms out of a level 5. So there is confidence that a lot of these storms could reach severe criteria. Threats would be damaging winds and large hail. The tornado risk is low across parts of Indianapolis but it is not zero. A slightly higher risk of tornadic activity is possible in northern sections of Indiana. 

Heavy rainfall could also lead to some flooding in parts of the state. Areas may see anywhere between 1 to 3 inches of rainfall. 

Best timing on the thunderstorm activity will be anytime after 8:00 p.m. and lasting until Friday morning around 4.

TOMORROW: A few early morning rain showers will be possible on Friday. The main weather story is that it will be much cooler. High temperatures will climb around 49 which is below our normal high of 56. Winds switch direction out of the northeast and it will be a bit breezy at times as well. Low temperatures late Friday night into Saturday morning will drop into the upper twenties.

7 DAY EXTENDED FORECAST: A chilly start early Saturday morning but we will see lots of sunshine for the afternoon. High temperatures will climb around 52 for the afternoon. 

Cloud cover returns on Sunday but it will be dry for the most part. Look for high temperatures to climb into the lower 60s. 

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Warmer next week with temperatures reaching the low and even middle and upper 70s by the middle part of the week. A dry start on Monday with some scattered showers possible on Tuesday and Wednesday. 



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