2017-18 NBA Regular Season: 10 pleasant surprises

#1 The Indiana Pacers

Oladipo reacts after scoring a 3-pointer against the Memphis Grizzlies

To say that the Indiana Pacers have overachieved this season would probably be the understatement of the year.

Renowned analytics firm FiveThirtyEight, among other experts, projected the Pacers as one of the worst teams in the league, predicting a record of 32-50 and a 10th-place finish in the Eastern Conference. Instead, the Pacers find themselves sitting pretty with the 5th seed in the standings virtually locked up.

The Pacers made the most of a sticky roster situation following Paul George's declaration that he was looking to play in Los Angeles.

Landing Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis in a trade deal with the Thunder was huge for the Pacers, as both players have made impressive progressions in their career trajectories, with Oladipo cracking an All-Star team and a possible All-NBA selection while leading the league in steals this season.

Darren Collison (a shrewd free agent signing), Myles Turner (trending upward definitely in his 3rd NBA season) and Thaddeus Young have all been solid contributors who've chipped in with crucial buckets down the stretch for the Pacers, making them a team not over-reliant on a single player.

From the bench, Lance Stephenson has been an above-average playmaker, while Bojan Bogdanovic has also been a solid contributor, making 40.2% of his 3s in 4.8 attempts per game. The Pacers have an opportunity to make some real noise in the playoffs once more this season, and most neutral NBA fans would be rooting for them.