Pacers' Myles Turner Credits Caitlin Clark With Growing Indiana Basketball

The Indiana Pacers are up 2-0 over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and they cruised past the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round.

Both Donovan Mitchell and Giannis Antetokounmpo will receive some MVP votes this year, and Jalen Brunson and Jayson Tatum, one of whom the Pacers will face in the next round if they win the series, are in the same boat.

While Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haiburton are stars, they are far from the biggest names in the sport. The Pacers are not built on star power, they are built on a cohesive team playing a distinct and unselfish brand of basketball.

The Indiana Fever, on the other hand, enjoys having one of the biggest athletic stars in the world, regardless of sport. Caitlin Clark has helped put women’s basketball at the center of the sporting world.

Pacers’ center Myles Turner, who has seen Indiana basketball grow over the last ten years, gave the Fever credit for growing the popularity of both teams.

“It’s not only us doing our thing, on our second straight playoff run with this group. But it’s also Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston and them, and they’re the biggest thing in the WNBA at a moment where it’s exploding like crazy,” wrote Turner in The Players’ Tribune.

“Bro, that’s such an underrated thing about what we have here in Indy. How many cities can say they’ve got one of the most exciting teams in the league in men’s hoops AND women’s hoops — and a fan base who keeps that same energy for both of them?? Maybe it’s us, Minnesota and New York? It’s not a lot of places. So for me, when I think about why it’s so dope what’s happening with the Pacers, it’s about more than the Pacers. It’s about how Indianapolis, Indiana is the basketball capital right now. We really do this in Indy. The game runs through us.”

While the national media prefers to focus on the Celtics and Knicks or the Warriors and Timberwolves, even the Nuggets and Thunder, the Pacers have made it clear that they are competing for a title.

Only twice, in 2001 and 2002, has a city won both the NBA and WNBA Finals, when the Los Angeles Lakers and Sparks each won a title. The Pacers and Fever, with their vastly different identities, could be next.

Indiana started the preseason 3-0, and Clark played in only two games and was solid, although not fantastic. The Fever, with +350 title odds, are tied with the Las Vegas Aces and trail only the New York Liberty, who are looking to defend their title.

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