Reggie Miller – Franchise all-time leading scorer (25,279 points)

Lore & Background

Reggie Miller arrived in Indianapolis in 1987 as an 11th overall pick out of UCLA, a lanky shooting guard with a jumper that seemed to defy geometry. What the Pacers got was not just a scorer but a standard-bearer. Over the next eighteen years, in an era when the league was reshaping itself around superstars and free-agency churn, Miller never left. He became the face of the franchise through the 'Revolving Door' era of the early 1990s, when the team cycled through a parade of big-name acquisitions, and he remained the constant, the anchor, the guy who would hit the shot when the arena was shaking. He was a 6-time All-Star, a 1995 All-Star Game MVP, a two-time All-NBA selection, and a three-time All-Defensive team member. It is the number that hangs above every other in the franchise record book, the one that future generations will have to chase and almost certainly will not catch for a very long time. When Miller retired his #31 in 2006, the ceremony at the fieldhouse was a homecoming. The franchise had found its permanent icon, its scoring god, the player whose name became synonymous with the word 'clutch.' His record stands not just as a statistical achievement but as a testament to what one player, one city, and one jersey can mean over nearly two decades of basketball.

In Their Own Story

The arena is empty except for the sound of a ball bouncing on hardwood — a slow, rhythmic thud that echoes off the rafters. A kid from the upper deck presses his face to the glass, watching a lone figure in a blue #31 jersey run through his old drills at the top of the key. The jumper is the same one. The follow-through is the same one. The kid knows, with the absolute certainty of a child who has heard the story a hundred times, that no one will ever make that number mean the same thing again. The ball hits the rim, clatters out, and the figure simply retrieves it, turns, and shoots again. The echo of the bounce fills the empty cathedral, and for a moment, the whole franchise is just one man, one shot, and a number that will outlive them all.

Reader's Guide

No other player in franchise history has come within 2,000 points of that mark. Miller was drafted 11th overall in 1987 out of UCLA and spent his entire career in Indianapolis. He was a 6-time All-Star, won the 1995 All-Star Game MVP, and made two All-NBA teams. The record still matters because it is the single most cited statistic in Pacers history. His #31 was retired by the franchise in 2006, and he was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. And the 8 points in 9 seconds he scored against the Knicks in the 1995 playoffs is arguably the most famous clutch sequence in Pacers annals.

Did You Know?

• Reggie Miller's 8 points in 9 seconds in Game 5 of the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the New York Knicks is widely regarded as one of the greatest clutch performances in NBA playoff history.
• Miller played all 18 of his NBA seasons (1987–2005) for the Indiana Pacers, making him one of the most loyal players of his era in a league defined by free-agency movement.
• He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012, and his #31 jersey was retired by the Pacers in 2006.
• Miller was the 1995 NBA All-Star Game MVP, capping a stretch in which he was a 6-time All-Star and a 2-time All-NBA selection during his prime years.