Myles Turner is Indiana’s franchise leader in blocks.
The Indiana Pacers franchise has a rich history that dates back nearly 60 years and traces its roots to the ABA. A host of impressive big men have patrolled the paint for the team over the course of those multiple decades.
Here’s a closer look at the Pacers’ top five career block leaders:
Myles Turner is the one active player on this list and has impressively established himself as the franchise’s block king as he enters his ninth season. The 11th overall pick in 2015, Turner has been a consistent source of points, rebounds and blocks while protecting the rim at a towering 6-foot-11. Turner has never averaged fewer than 1.4 blocks per contest in any season, and he’d eclipsed 2.0 rejections per game in six separate seasons overall entering the 2024-25 campaign.
Jermaine O’Neal arrived in Indiana after spending the first four seasons of his career with the Portland Trail Blazers, and the South Carolina native was instantly a force on both ends of the floor. In addition to averaging a points-rebounds double-double in each of his first three Pacers seasons, O’Neal recorded between 2.3 and 2.8 blocks per contest in that trio of campaigns before going on to average between 2.0 and 2.6 blocks per game in each of his remaining five seasons in Indiana.
The 7-foot-4 Rik Smits was unsurprisingly a significant obstacle for would-be shots over the course of his 12 seasons, which were all spent with the Pacers. The “Dunking Dutchman” made the NBA’s All-Rookie First Team in part due to his 1.8 blocks per game during the 1988-89 season. He went on to average between 1.0 and 2.1 in nine of his remaining 11 NBA campaigns.
Herb Williams’ distinguished 18-year career began in Indiana after he was selected with the 14th overall pick in the 1981 NBA Draft. The Ohio State product quickly established himself as a force in the paint with 2.2 blocks per game as a rookie. Williams replicated that figure in his second season and set a career-high with 2.4 rejections per contest during the 1985-86 campaign. His 1.3 blocks per game the following season would be his lowest figure during his Indiana tenure, as he recorded at least 1.6 per contest over his four other campaigns.
Seven-footer Roy Hibbert was brought along slowly during his rookie season, averaging just 14.4 minutes per game. Nevertheless, Hibbert managed 1.1 blocks in that campaign, offering a glimpse of the rim-protecting prowess that would enable him to record between 1.6 and 2.6 blocks per contest – including three seasons with at least 2.0 per game – once he became a full-time member of the first unit during his remaining six years in Indiana.
