The Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder will play Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, June 8. The Pacers lead the best-of-seven series 1-0.

The Indiana Pacers aren't a destination for the NBA's free agents and rarely earn high draft picks. To reach the Finals, they had to buck convention and get creative.

Draymond Green delivers a major Alex Caruso message during the Oklahoma City Thunder-Indiana Pacers NBA Finals.

What makes Indiana coach Rick Carlisle unique is the way he has engaged with modern disruptions in the NBA, with different teams in different eras.

They say life's two certainties are death and taxes, but for the past 20 years, the Pacers have done a pretty good job of avoiding the latter. They last paid the luxury tax in 2005. The only other teams to have avoided the tax for the two decades that have passed since are the Hornets and Pelicans,

The second-year player suffered an ankle injury in Game 6 against the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams were all acquired in recent years following a 2007 deal involving Rashard Lewis.