1999–2000 Indiana Pacers season

The 1999–2000 NBA season was the 24th season for the Indiana Pacers in the National Basketball Association, and their 33rd season as a franchise. It was also the team's first season playing at their new arena, the Conseco Fieldhouse. During the off-season, the Pacers acquired small forward, top draft pick and high school basketball star Jonathan Bender from the Toronto Raptors, and acquired center, and first-round draft pick Jeff Foster out of Texas State University from the Golden State Warriors.

The Pacers played around .500 basketball with a 7–7 start to the regular season, but then won 15 of their next 17 games, and held a 32–16 record at the All-Star break. The team finished in first place in the Central Division with a 56–26 record, highlighted by a franchise-best 25-game winning streak at home, which was worthy of the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference in the NBA playoffs, and guaranteed home-court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

Jalen Rose, who played the previous three seasons off the Pacers' bench, became the team's starting small forward replacing Chris Mullin in the starting lineup, averaging 18.2 points and 4.0 assists per game, and was named the NBA Most Improved Player of the Year. In addition, Reggie Miller finished second on the team in scoring averaging 18.1 points per game, and leading them with 165 three-point field goals, while Rik Smits provided with 12.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game, and Dale Davis contributed 10.0 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, Austin Croshere played an increased role as the team's sixth man, averaging 10.3 points per game off the bench, while Travis Best contributed 8.9 points and 3.3 assists per game also off the bench, Mark Jackson provided with 8.1 points and 8.0 assists per game, and Sam Perkins averaged 6.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.

Miller and Davis were both selected for the 2000 NBA All-Star Game in Oakland, California. Rose and Miller both finished tied in thirteenth place in Most Valuable Player voting, and Croshere finished in fourth place in Most Improved Player voting.

In the 2000 NBA playoffs, the Pacers defeated the Milwaukee Bucks in five games in the Eastern Conference First Round, and the 5th-seeded Philadelphia 76ers in six games in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals, before preceding to defeat their arch-rivals, the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, who they were playing against in the playoffs for the sixth time in the last eight years; the Pacers defeated the Knicks in six games to reach the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history. However, the Pacers would lose in the 2000 NBA Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. The Pacers would not return to the NBA Finals again until 25 years later, doing so in 2025 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Following the season, Larry Bird resigned as head coach after three seasons, while Davis was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers, Mullin was released and later re-signed as a free agent with his former team, the Golden State Warriors, Jackson signed with the Toronto Raptors, and Smits retired after playing twelve seasons in the NBA with the Pacers.