A national audience will see the Indiana Pacers this weekend—but most watching won’t be tuning in to see the Blue and Gold.
ESPN will carry Indy’s Saturday road game against the Los Angeles Lakers (29-19), supplanting original plans to broadcast the Utah Jazz-Phoenix Suns game on Friday night.
It means the Pacers (28-21) have a rare national telecast as they wrap up a four-game western road swing.
The reason for the scheduling change, however, has much more to do with the Lakers, an ascending star and a blockbuster trade.
Many expect Luka Doncic to make his Lakers debut this weekend. Doncic, 25, led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals last season and is regarded as one of the league’s most exciting players.
Over the weekend, while fans were filing out of the WWE Royal Rumble at Lucas Oil Stadium, word of the blockbuster deal to ship Doncic to the Lakers broke.
The three-team trade sent Doncic to L.A. in exchange for Anthony Davis. A first-round pick and Max Christie also went to Dallas, while the Lakers received Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris.
The teams needed the Utah Jazz to help facilitate the deal. Utah received former IU standout Jalen Hood-Schifino and a pair of second-round picks.
It’s no certainty Doncic will play against the Pacers on Saturday, but the scheduling change means ESPN is fairly confident it’ll happen.
Lakers coach J.J. Redick said Doncic could be cleared to play Saturday. The star point guard has been recovering from a calf injury.
Saturday’s game is set for a 4 p.m. tip. It’ll air on ESPN/ESPN+/Disney+, FanDuel Sports Network and locally on WTHR.