With the recent signing of LeBron James, the 76ers now trail only the New York Knicks as the top title threats in the East, with their FanDuel title odds bumping up to plus-1,000.
Needless to say, a starting lineup of Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown, James, and Joel Embiid is enough to make anyone fear a face-off against Philadelphia heading into 2026-27, and many now see them as the most likely conference king aside from the Knicks.
However, until they actually step foot on the hardwood, they're truly just a theoretical threat.
The Indiana Pacers, on the other hand, are an already proven danger to the Knicks, yet have now completely been thrust into the shadows as a result of the recent LeBron news.
A healthy Pacers team is still most dangerous threat to Knicks out East
As of this writing, according to FanDuel, the four biggest challengers to New York in the Eastern Conference are the 7ers, Celtics, Raptors, and Pistons.
Of course, as Knicks fans are well aware, all but Toronto, who haven't had the misfortune of squaring off against them, have succumbed to the wrath of the reigning champions in the playoffs over the last two seasons.
In fact, when looking at the top-10 East teams in the current title odds pecking order, only the Pacers have found a way to best this main Knicks core of Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart in a postseason series, as they downed them in six during the 2025 conference finals.
Yet, for some reason, they've place dead last in this particular pecking order.
Pacers have only gotten better since Knicks last saw them in playoffs
While it may sound a tad odd considering they just wrapped up last season with the NBA's second-worst record at 19-63 as a result of their injury-induced tankathon, heading into 2026-27, this Pacers team has the chance to be even better than the one that knocked New York out of the playoffs two years ago.
Yes, their foundation is still headlined by the usual suspects of All-NBA forward Pascal Siakam and the soon-to-return All-Star Tyrese Haliburton, but the supporting cast has only gotten stronger.
Not only did they add borderline All-Star center Ivica Zubac at last year's trade deadline into the mix, but they've also seen promising young point guard Andrew Nembhard take a major step forward with his game after posting 16.9 points, 7.7 assists, and 2.8 rebounds on 36.1 percent shooting from deep last season.
The last time Indiana was healthy, they won 50 games, bested New York in the conference finals, and literally came up just 12 points shy of winning an NBA Championship over the OKC Thunder.
Assuming they're a full go early on this coming year, the Pacers should once again be seen as the biggest threat to the Knicks out East.
LeBron's addition to the 76ers shouldn't change this very real sentiment.
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