15 years later: Where are the 2000 Pacers now?

The NBA Finals start Thursday night.

And while Indiana has a lengthy and well-documented basketball history, the state's pro franchise has reached the NBA Finals just once -- in 2000.

That's right, it's been 15 years since Reggie and Jalen led the Pacers to the Finals against Kobe, Shaq and the Lakers.

Larry Bird was working the sideline, rather than from the owner's seats he occupies now.

Five of the Pacers' 14 players on that roster went into broadcasting, a few into coaching and the last player off that team to retire, finally did so this March (Al Harrington.)

So what are the 2000 Indiana Pacers up to now, you ask? We're glad you asked:

• Jonathan Bender

2000 Finals stats: 3.5 ppg, 0.5 rpg, 6 total minutes played

1999-00 season stats: 2.7 ppg, 0.9 rpg, 5.4 mpg

"I've never drafted a player with more potential. I can tell you that without even thinking about it." Donnie Walsh spoke those words about Bender 15 years after trading Antonio Davis to Toronto for the fifth overall pick in 1999.

Bender was an athletic freak. A 6-11 bouncy small forward with silky moves and a competent jump shot. "Think Kevin Durant before there was a Kevin Durant," Walsh told the IndyStar's Zak Keefer last year.

But that promise never materialized due to chronic knee pain, which forced Bender to retire prematurely in 2006. He played just 30 combined games during his final three seasons with the Pacers and stepped away from basketball before re-emerging with Walsh and the Knicks for a 25-game stint in the 2009-10 season.

The injuries that cost him his playing career, provided a business inspiration for Bender – the JBIT MedPro, a joint-strengthening device he invented, refined, markets and sells.

• Travis Best

2000 Finals stats: 5.8 ppg, 2.2 apg, 1.2 rpg

1999-00 season stats: 8.9 ppg, 3.3 apg, 1.7 rpg

Best spent eight of his 11 NBA seasons with the Pacers, and his best year statistically was the season after Indiana's trip to the Finals. In 2001, he averaged a career-high 11.9 points and 6.1 assists but was dealt to Chicago a season later after Indiana drafted Jamaal Tinsley to be the starter for the 2001-02 season.

Best was honored as one of 15 ACC Men's Basketball Legends for the Class of 2014, and he now lives in Atlanta where he starred collegiately for Georgia Tech.

• Austin Croshere

2000 Finals stats: 15.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 54.5 3P%

1999-00 season stats: 10.0 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 36.2 3P%

The 2000 NBA Finals made Austin Croshere a very rich man -- Game 2 and his season-high 24-point eruption in particular. That brief outburst tempted the Pacers to give Croshere, a reserve for two of his three NBA seasons to that point, "Monopoly money" -- $51 million over seven years to be exact.

Croshere never played up to that contract, and finished his Pacers career averaging 7.5 points and 4.3 rebounds over the course of 540 games. He bounced around from 2006-09 with stops in Dallas, Golden State, Milwaukee and San Antonio before hanging 'em up and settling back in Indianapolis where he began his broadcasting career working Paces games for Fox Sports Indiana and 1070 The Fan.

Croshere now works for Fox Sports 1 as the network's lead Big East analyst.

• Dale Davis

2000 Finals stats: 8.7 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 1.0 bpg

1999-00 season stats: 10.0 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 1.3 bpg

A Pacer for nine-plus seasons, Davis was a monster on the glass. He is the franchise's leader in offensive rebounds (2,276) and only Mel Daniels has more total boards than Davis' 6,006 with the Pacers.

Davis has had his hand in a number of ventures after basketball. He became a co-owner of a NASCAR team, John Carter Racing, which was based in his hometown of Toccoa, Ga. The team, which at one time employed Terry Labonte and Bill Elliott, disbanded in 2010 without winning a race in 47 tries.

Davis dabbled in entertainment, serving as CEO of a now-defunct production company, The World Ain't Right. And more recently, he was working with an entity called Pro Player Holdings, where he and his business partners help current and former players with financial decisions. Or whatever they do...

• Jeff Foster

2000 Finals stats: Did not play

1999-00 season stats: 2.3 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 4.5 mpg

Only Reggie Miller, Vern Fleming and Rik Smits have played more for the Pacers than Foster, who spent all 13 of his NBA seasons in Indiana. He saw action in 764 games for the blue and gold, but in 2000, his rookie season, Foster played just 86 total minutes and was a spectator for the Finals.

"Going from just 15 months from the last game at Texas State to in the NBA Finals was kind of surreal," Foster told 8 Points, 9 Seconds at his jersey retirement at Texas State last year. "As a rookie I was like 'OK, this is really easy. We got here, this happens all the time.' But, I always heard people going to the Super Bowl and just trying to take in every moment because it doesn't happen that often. I can speak for that exactly. I still have snapshot pictures in my head of events that occurred on a certain series, but I really thought that would just be the first of many Finals appearances for me. Unfortunately for me it was the only one I got to play in."

After constant back pain caused him to miss 147 games in his final three years, Foster retired following the 2012 season. Foster finished his degree in finance in 2009 and has put that to good use with smart investments, which Bloomberg BusinessWeek documented in an article flatteringly titled, "Jeff Foster, the Buffett of Basketball", referring to billionaire financier Warren Buffett. (Foster is not a billionaire.)

Foster returned to his native Texas and lives in Austin with his wife, Jamie, and two children, Carter and Elle.

• Al Harrington

2000 Finals stats: Did not play

1999-00 season stats: 6.6 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 17.1 mpg

In his second season straight out of high school, "Baby Al" was still learning the ropes during the 1999-2000 season and didn't play in the Finals. His role would expand as a part time starter for the Pacers over the next four seasons, averaging 10.7 points and 5.4 rebounds in seven total seasons with Indiana, including a brief return in 2006.

In all, Harrington spent 16 seasons in the NBA with stops in Atlanta, Golden State, New York, Denver, Orlando and Washington. He signed with a Chinese team last summer before parting ways just a few months later. This March, Harrington announced his official retirement and took a position with the Nuggets' coaching staff for the remainder of the 2015 season.

• Mark Jackson

2000 Finals stats: 9.7 ppg, 7.7 apg, 5.3 rpg

1999-00 season stats: 8.1 ppg, 8.0 apg, 3.7 rpg

While Jackson's former team is in this year's NBA Finals, he was the veteran point guard who helped lead the Pacers to their only trip to the Finals. It was during his second go-round in Indiana, and Jackson was the key facilitator for the Pacers offense, averaging 7.7 assists during the 2000 playoffs.

Jackson signed with the Raptors the following offseason and spent time with the Knicks, Jazz and Rockets over the next three seasons. He retired in 2004 and not surprisingly, the Pacers' vocal leader found a niche in broadcasting. Jackson soon became a hot coaching commodity and was hired by Golden State in 2011. He led the Warriors to back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time since 1992, but was fired after last season, mainly in part to dysfunction on his staff. Steve Kerr got the job and the Warriors posted the best record in the NBA en route to this year's Finals.

Jackson quickly landed back on his feet broadcasting with ESPN, agreeing to a multi-year contract last May. He and his family now live in Los Angeles.

• Derrick McKey

2000 Finals stats: 1.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 12.0 mpg

1999-00 season stats: 4.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.1 apg

You've probably seen McKey out and about in Indy over the years. The 15-year NBA veteran made Indianapolis his home after his playing career, which included eight seasons with the Pacers.

"I think it's a great place to have a family, raise a family," McKey told FOX-59's Chris Hagan in 2014. "I think the city has grown since I've been here and it's just a great place to be."

McKey arrived in Indy from Seattle in a trade for Detlef Schrempf in 1993. A defensive stopper, McKey was at the tail end of his career during the Pacers' run to the Finals and dogged by injuries. He missed the first three months of the season with a bruised leg and was a modest contributor after returning.

He's been active in the Indy community as well as back in his native Mississippi, where he hosts a basketball camp every year. He put on a similar camp at Indy's Eastside Middle School last year.

• Reggie Miller

2000 Finals stats: 24.3 ppg, 3.7 apg, 2.7 rpg, 37.5 3P%

1999-00 season stats: 18.1 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.3 apg, 40.8 3P%

The face of the franchise, Miller finally reached the NBA Finals after banging his head up against the wall known as Michael Jordan for years. But once at the Finals, Miller didn't make the first impression he had hoped.

Reggie suffered through an abysmal Game 1, scoring just seven points on 1-of-16 shooting from the field in a seven-point loss.

"It was just one of those off nights," Miller said afterward.

Larry Bird, who reached the NBA Finals five times as a player said of Reggie's rough night, "That's not uncommon for a guy in his first Finals."

Miller rebounded to average 27.8 points in the following five games.

He retired following the 2005 season after 18 years with the Pacers and was elected into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. He's been one of TNT's primary broadcasters since retiring and has also worked as an analyst during the men's NCAA tournament and makes weekly appearances on "The Dan Patrick Show".

He lives in Riverside, Calif. and finally sold his home on Geist Reservoir in 2014 for a cool $4.5 million.

• Chris Mullin

2000 Finals stats: 1.3 ppg, 0.3 apg, 12 total minutes played

1999-00 season stats: 5.1 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 40.9 3P%, 12.4 mpg

The Chris Mullin the Pacers had from 1997-2000 was a far cry from the Dream Team member who starred for the Warriors in the early 90s. And that's understandable. Mullin was 36 during the 1999-2000 season and averaged a career-low 12.4 minutes in 47 games.

Mullin appeared in three of the six Finals games, playing a grand total of 12 minutes. He was waived during the offseason, returned to Golden State for a swan song and joined the team's front office after retiring in 2001. When his contract wasn't renewed in 2009, Mullin went to work for ESPN, hitting everyone with that heavy New York accent. That accent will be put to good use as the new head coach of his alma mater, St. John's, replacing Steve Lavin this spring.

• Sam Perkins

2000 Finals stats: 6.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 47.8 3P%

1999-00 season stats: 6.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 40.8 3P%

A 17-year NBA veteran, Big Smooth spent the final three seasons of his career with the Pacers, including of course, the 2000 Finals. At 38 years old, Perkins still played 20 minutes a game and played 29 minutes in the Pacers' 33-point Game 5 blowout win over the Lakers.

Perkins returned to the Pacers in 2008 as the team's Vice President of Player Relations, a position he held until 2010. He's worked as an ambassador-type for NBA Cares, Big Brothers Big Sisters and is on the volunteer Board of Directors for this summer's Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles, which is expected to feature 7,000 athletes representing 177 countries.

• Jalen Rose

2000 Finals stats: 23.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.0 apg

1999-00 season stats: 18.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 4.0 apg, 1.1 spg

Reggie Miller didn't lead the 2000 Pacers in scoring. Jalen Rose did. Sometimes people forget just how good Rose was as a Pacer. In the 2000 playoffs, he averaged 20.8 points a game, including a 40-point outburst in a Game 1 win over the 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. He scored 30 points in Game 2 of the Finals and 32 in Game 5, but couldn't get Indiana past Shaq and Kobe.

Rose spent another season and a half with the Pacers before being traded to Chicago in 2002 for Ron Artest, Brad Miller and Ron Mercer. He played five more seasons in the NBA before retiring in 2007 and going into broadcasting.

He's worked for ESPN since 2007 and has been a key part of the network's "NBA Countdown" show and worked closely with "Grantland" and Bill Simmons, who has since been shunned by ESPN.

Rose has been very active in the Detroit community, establishing a charter school in his name and in 2013, he was tabbed by the Detroit News as Michiganian of the Year Award "in recognition of his excellence, courage and philanthropy to uplift not only the metropolitan area but all of Michigan."

• Rik Smits

2000 Finals stats: 10.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.2 bpg, 29 fouls

1999-00 season stats: 12.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 1.3 bpg

You see Smits often stretching out his 7-4 frame courtside at Pacers games when he's not cruising on one of his 100 dirt bikes and motorcycles.

"I have what you call a collecting disease," Smits told The Star's Dana Benbow of his expansive (and expensive) hobby.

"The Dunking Dutchman" spent his entire 12-year NBA career with the Pacers, and his wheels held up just long enough for him to help the franchise reach its only trip to the NBA Finals in 2000. His prize? Guarding Shaq in his prime. Smits had his moments, especially in Game 4. Smits finished with 24 points on an insanely efficient 11-of-14 from the field. As for Shaq? He went for 36 points and 21 rebounds in the Lakers' two-point win at the then-Conseco Fieldhouse.

Smits retired after the 2000 Finals and settled in Zionsville. His son, Derrik, just graduated from Zionsville and will resume his basketball career at Valparaiso.

Smits is expected to participate in Thursday's Celebrity Softball Challenge at Victory Field.

• Zan Tabak

2000 Finals stats: 0.7 ppg, 0.3 rpg, six fouls, 11 minutes played

1999-00 season stats: 2.1 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 6.3 mpg

The first international player to play in the NBA Finals for two different teams (he won a ring with the Rockets in 1995), Tabak's 7-foot, 245-pound frame came in handy as another body to throw at Shaq — or at least foul him. In 11 minutes played in the Finals, Tabak committed six fouls.

Tabak played just one more season with the Pacers and returned overseas to play in Spain for four more years. He worked as an international scout for the Knicks in 2006 and went into coaching, getting his start as an assistant for Real Madrid before taking head coaching jobs in Spain and Poland. He returned to Real Madrid in 2013 as an assistant and was part of the staff that won this year's Euroleague championship.