How do the Pacers get Victor Oladipo over the hump?

The Indiana Pacers were the first team eliminated from the playoffs after the Celtics swept them out of the opening round on Sunday. This result — an early exit at the hands of a mostly healthy Boston team — was expected.

What’s also expected is Pacers management, led by team president Kevin Pritchard and general manager Chad Buchanan, scouring the free agent market to retool Victor Oladipo’s supporting cast.

Oladipo, after all, has been phenomenal since his trade from Oklahoma City. Last season, he won Most Improved Player, receiving 99 of 101 first-place votes. This season, he was an all-star, the leader of a scary Pacers team, until his season-ending ruptured quad in late January.

The Pacers hung in there admirably to win 48 games, but the end of their season and early playoff exit revealed the team’s roster limitations without Oladipo. As resilient as they’ve proven to be, the Pacers need more to vault into championship contention.

Many of those key players are free agents this summer. With just two years left on Oladipo contract, the clock is ticking for the Pacers to get their star more help, or risk losing him just like they lost Paul George.

The Pacers have signed 37 meaningful free agents from other teams since 1988. None of those players went on to make all-star appearances in Indiana.

The best recent free agent to sign in Indiana is David West, who inked a two-year, $20 million deal with the Pacers the season after tearing his ACL in New Orleans. The second-best free agent to recently sign with the Pacers is a toss-up between Tyreke Evans, Wesley Matthews, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Darren Collison, each of whom are hitting the open market again this summer. Key veteran Thaddeus Young, acquired via trade, will be as well.

Signing a Tier 1 superstar is out of the question. The Pacers aren’t landing Kevin Durant. They’re not signing Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, or Klay Thompson, either. Indiana has the money for a max player, but it doesn’t have the draw of a big city or top-five market. The unfortunate truth is the Pacers will have wait for the dust to settle with the top names first.

It will be hard for the Pacers to trade for a big name as well. They won’t deal Oladipo, and they don’t appear to be interested in trading young big men Myles Turner or Domantas Sabonis — though it’s unclear if they can be productive on the court together.

So how does Indiana rebuild Oladipo’s roster?

Darren Collison is a decent NBA point guard, but championship contenders outclass him at the position. The Pacers already have Turner locked into a four-year, $72 million extension for the next four seasons, and Sabonis is extension-eligible this summer. Priority No. 1 is to upgrade at the one.

Indiana’s best option is throwing the kitchen sink at Charlotte’s Kemba Walker: a four-year, $140.6 million max deal. Walker and Oladipo make a two-guard tandem that could become the best in the NBA, and the Pacers would only need to round out the roster with a backup playmaker and three-and-D forwards to space the floor.

But Walker is able to get more money from the Hornets, and potentially a five-year, $205 million supermax extension if he makes an All-NBA team this year. If he turns that down, he’ll have his choice to sign in whichever market Irving doesn’t. Walker could leave the Hornets to play with LeBron James in Los Angeles, sign home and play for either New York team, re-join Steve Clifford on the tough-nosed Magic, or choose any other team with cap space.

If Indiana strikes out on both Irving and Walker, the next-best point guard available is Brooklyn’s D’Angelo Russell, a restricted free agent coming off a career year. The Nets would be foolish not to match a competing offer sheet, unless they get Walker or Irving. After Russell, it’s Milwaukee’s Malcolm Brogdon, another restricted free agent likely to be retained.

The current fiery Boston Celtics guard had a breakout season in 2018 before being pushed to the back-burner when Irving returned from injury this year. Boston is trying to turn an Anthony Davis-Irving dream into reality during the same summer Irving could be plotting a move to New York or Los Angeles. The Pacers could throw a wrench in the Celtics’ plans by signing Rozier to a lucrative offer sheet the moment free agency begins, giving Boston just 48 hours to decide whether to match it.

Indiana won’t be the only team to do so, either. Rozier makes a lot of sense for both Phoenix, Orlando, Dallas and, in a wild scenario, Philadelphia. He makes the most sense in Boston long-term, too, if Irving bolts town to team up with Durant in New York. But if the Pacers can’t get Walker, Rozier is the most attainable upgrade.

Indiana’s notable free agents are Matthews, Collison, Bogdanovic, Evans, Young, Cory Joseph, and Kyle O’Quinn. In other words: its entire supporting cast. Indiana can exceed the salary cap to re-sign its own free agents (save for Matthews) but risks incurring the luxury tax to keep together a team that couldn’t break through the glass ceiling and will be a year older.

A change at the point guard makes sense for Indiana, even if it’s not an obvious upgrade. Derrick Rose averaged 18 points per game and shot 37 percent from three, a career-best, this season in Minnesota. Other available point guards are Rajon Rondo, Patrick Beverley, Ricky Rubio, Elfrid Payton, restricted Wizards free agent Tomas Satoransky, and former All-Star Isaiah Thomas.

The Pacers could sign any one of those players, or bring Joseph back as the starting point guard instead of Collison. Indiana could also re-sign Collison and make a run with a healthy Oladipo, while re-signing as many players as they can from this season’s team. (They won’t be able to retain Matthews unless they sign him with cap space first.)

It’s certainly understandable for the Pacers to run it back with the players they can re-sign and bank on a healthy Oladipo to carry them beyond the first round. Indiana surely would have secured home-court advantage this year if Oladipo didn’t get hurt, and nearly did so anyway with Oladipo watching from the sidelines. When he returns, the Pacers could be back to their best selves.

But it remains to be seen if that will be enough, when push comes to shove. The 76ers could have four All-Stars for the foreseeable future. Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Bucks look like favorites to win the East. Kawhi Leonard could re-sign in Toronto. Boston will be tough, regardless of what Kyrie Irving does this summer.

Then there’s the Pacers, who have a Coach of the Year candidate in Nate McMillan, two talented big men, and an All-Star guard. That core, combined with a veteran supporting cast full of free-agents-to-be, has been successful in the last two regular seasons, but we’re skeptical it will ultimately get them over the hump in the future. Oladipo will need more help, and the Pacers would be best-served getting that help now.

They could also kick the can down the road and bring their current squad back next season. There’s only one issue with kicking the can down the road: you kick your problems right down the road with it.