There’s always a scene in every horror movie where the bad guy that’s been terrorizing our protagonists is assumed to be dead and gone, but then somehow returns to go after them once more. Professional basketball isn’t a horror movie, but Indianapolis Star reporter Gregg Doyel is the bad guy, and beyond all logic and reason, he’s back to terrorize us once again.
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Doyel creeped the entire world out last year when his weird interaction with Indiana Fever sensation Caitlin Clark went viral for all the wrong reasons. Fans all over the NBA world have tried to forget the gross actions of Doyel, but it feels necessary to describe it here for those who have forgotten.
Doyel held up his hands in the shape of a heart during Clark’s introductory press conference after the Fever selected her with the first overall pick in the draft. Clark asked if he liked that, to which he creepily responded, “I like that you’re here.” Just in case it wasn’t a weird enough thing to say, he repeated it.
Clark took it in stride and explained that she directs the heart hands at her family every game. Doyel apparently forgot that he was in a press conference and said, “Start doing it to me and we’ll get along just fine.”
That interaction got Doyel suspended from the Indy Star for two weeks and banned from covering the Fever in person for the entire season.
Unless you live in the greater Indianapolis metropolitan area, chances are you forgot that Gregg Doyel existed since then. Until last night that is, when he again made himself the story by getting into it with Pascal Siakam after the Pacers’ Game 5 loss to the Knicks.
“You good bro?… Who is this guy?”
Awkward exchange between Pascal Siakam and this reporter after Pacers Game 5 loss pic.twitter.com/t3Y5bEeGhu
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 30, 2025
It’s difficult to hear Doyel in the clip, but after Siakam says that the Knicks outfought the Pacers to earn the win, he questions how it’s possible for that to happen. Siakam responds, “We played hard, but they played harder,” before going on to explain, “That happens in a game, though, that’s basketball.”
To the exasperation of Siakam, Doyel keeps pursuing his line of questioning. Like the reveal in the horror movie when the killer finally gets unmasked, many recoiled in horror when Siakam asked, “Who is this guy?” and got the response of, “Gregg Doyel with the Indy Star.”
The Pacers have been an incredible story all postseason. Siakam has been great, Tyrese Haliburton has proven every hater wrong, and Indy has blown through an Eastern Conference that was supposed to belong to the Celtics, Cavs or Knicks. If there’s one negative to their unexpected run, it’s that it brought Gregg Doyel back into our lives.
