2022-23 ABA Champions

The 2022-23 Indiana Lyons are the champions of the American Basketball Association, along with the Burning River Buckets from Mentor, Ohio, in the Cleveland metropolitan area. Due to severe weather (later revealed to be an EF-0 tornado 3 miles south of the gym) damaging the Jefferson College Fieldhouse in Hillsboro, Missouri, about an hour before scheduled tipoff of the ABA Championship Game on April 15, 2023, the title game could not be played, and the ABA Commissioner declared both the Lyons and Buckets to be champions.

The Lyons are the first ABA champions from Indiana in 50 years. The Indiana Pacers last won the ABA title in 1973.

The team began the 2022-23 season with a 1-4 record, but then went on a 15-2 run to finish with a 16-6 regular season record and a No. 11 ranking in the final ABA Power Rankings.

They then beat the Music City Jazz and the Clarksville Phoenix in the ABA Midwest Region playoffs, earning the title of 2022-23 Midwest Region Champions, and running their overall record to 18-6.

The Lyons were the No. 5 seed in the ABA Final Eight tournament in Hillsboro, MO, which featured all eight regional champions fighting for the league title. In the quarterfinal on April 13, 2023, the Lyons beat the No. 4-seed Atlanta Aliens (18-3, ranked No. 8) by a score of 121-107.

On April 14, 2023, the Lyons faced the No. 1-seed Wyoming Valley Clutch out of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The Clutch were ranked No. 2 in the ABA and sported a 17-1 record. Trailing for most of the game, the Lyons outscored the Clutch 27-16 in the 4th quarter and slipped past them in the waning seconds of the contest by a score of 80-77.

The Indiana Lyons finished the 2022-23 season with a 20-6 record.