Prichard: Pacers don t pay luxury tax for 20 years, the team s masters behind the championship in 25 years

He has to stand in the last shift after being fired. He should be the most tragic NBA executive. He has not asked his boss to pay a penny of luxury tax in 14 years. This guy is Kevin Prichard, the current Pacers president. An hour before the 2010 NBA Draft, Prichard, then general manager of the Trail Blazers, was fired by his boss Allen. The boss also made it clear: You must stand in the last shift of the draft.

Prichard worked diligently to complete the draft, ending more than four years of his career as a Trail Blazers executive.

In 2011, Prichard joined the Pacers. He knows how difficult it is to run a small market team. The Pacers have not paid luxury tax for 20 years. The owner Simon is in charge of the Pacers. The total tax payment of the team is less than $10 million.

Simon bought the Pacers in 1983, and he has been the longest-serving boss of the NBA team now.

Simon's philosophy in charge of the team is: he would rather be moderate than be bad.

Prichard recognized this concept: the boss did not want to push the team down and rebuild it, and he was unwilling to let the fans of the city bear this.

Pacers have not won the championship in 48 years, but the team has not played badly and has not joined forces. They have not won the top five picks in 37 years.

Pacers cannot learn from big city teams and wait for the stars to join. You can't learn from the Suns, and the boss spends money and pays extra tax to dig up the stars.

Players want to succeed, Prichard can only rely on patience, luck, precise vision and meticulous trading.

Prichard achieved self-help, with Nesmith, Nemhard and Toppin all the best players he operates.

Prichard also received help from God, and he traded Halliburton and Siakam.

President Pu once elaborated on his team building philosophy in detail. What the Pacers want is: stars with correct playing style and modest mentality.

As soon as he took office at the Pacers, he encountered a hot potato. At that time, the team's top player Paul George was clamoring to leave the team.

Peo looked for a suitable trading plan everywhere, and finally sent George to the Thunder for Oladipo and Sabonis Jr.

Oladipo's serious injury changed everything. Even though Prichard invited the champion coach Carlisle, the Pacers' record still couldn't improve.

At this moment, the King and the Pacers made a deal and sent Halliburton to Indiana.

As early as the 2020 draft, Carlisle, who was still the Mavericks coach, was very eager to get Halliburton. The Mavericks, who had the No. 18 draw, failed to trade upwards, and Halliburton was chosen first by the King. In less than two years, the king did not expect that Halliburton was sent to Carlisle. The fate was amazing.

Carlisle said: Getting Halliburton, the Pacers can look at the present and look forward to the future, which greatly promoted the team's reconstruction.

Prichard may be the most despised executive in the NBA today.

The Pacers entered the playoffs with 47 wins last season. He only received four third votes in the Executive of the Year vote, ranking 11th.

This season, the Pacers won 50 wins and entered the finals again, and Prichard didn't get a single vote.

Prichard doesn't care about these false names. The Pacers took three years to reach the Eastern Conference Finals for two consecutive seasons and returned to the finals for the first time in 25 years, which made fans curious about who the chief architect behind this team was.

In this league full of noise and impetuousness, Prichard is a low-key person and an outlier. Even if the team did not win the championship this season, he has created the yellow miracle of the Pacers in his own way.