I was absolutely foolish to think that we were free of our pain and suffering that started on June 22nd, 2025. After a meager 2-2 start to the year, Tyrese Haliburton was announced to have had a minor hamstring string and will likely miss at least a month of action. We are halfway through that month, but the Pacers are heavily struggling to find ways to pull out wins without their All-NBA point guard. Since Haliburton’s injury, they have gone 2-6 and dropped some really unfortunate games, including a three point loss to Dallas where Coop and Kyrie came together to put up more than 70 points combined. It’s been awhile (insert Staind voice here), so let’s go over the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Let’s start with the other max contract player- Pascal Siakam. Let me preface this with the fact that I love Pascal to death and I think his jersey will hang in the rafters someday, but he really is a perplexing player. Spicy P is averaging 23/7/4 over his 11 games played. He is Mr. Consistent. Night in/night out- you know you’re getting at least 20/6 from him, and you don’t even realize it. Pascal is a great downhill scorer, and that is why he is so effective when Hali is running the offense and making quick decisions. He doesn’t really have a bag though. He will take a fadeaway jumper from 15 feet, or drive in, try to get contact (he has a terrible whistle most of the time), and usually will put those shots in. I really love Pascal, but it seems to be incredibly difficult to win games THROUGH him.

Nembhard has shined. He is averaging 17/2/8 across 10 games played at this point. He looks comfortable running the offense, makes the right decision most of the time, and can dish the ball super well. He doesn’t run everything as quickly as Hali, and it really shows that the change of pace between the two different styles of offense ran through Hali or Nembhard is hurting some team cohesion.

Nesmith is in a slump. He really should be a 50/40/90 guy but is having problems getting the ball through the net this year. He is averaging 12//2/2 across 10 games. Right now he is shooting 36/30/80. A really brutal start to his year. AA is a catch and shoot kind of player, and right now the Pacers are asking him to play a style of game that he isn’t used to. I feel confident those splits will go up- but this is something to monitor as the season progresses.

Big Zu has been perplexing this year. I am giving him a lot of grace understanding he played very little last year, got an ankle sprain early this year, and is still obviously adapting to this different style of team. I think Zu is getting his sea-legs underneath him, and will showcase that he is a premier center in the coming months. He is tough on the inside, has a gentle touch to get the ball in, and comes down with rebounds (which the Pacers need desperately.) Rebounding has been a big issue for the Pacers and (I believe) are last in offensive rebounding percentage since rebounds were recorded as a stat.

Kelly is starting to shine. He is high energy, picks up from 40 feet, and looks like he is starting to shoot better. He had four steals in the first half last game, and brings an energy this team needs. I really, really like him as a player and am excited to watch him even more when Hali gets back into the offense.

The backup centers have been rough. Larry plays better defense than Huff, but struggles more offensively (except when he turned into prime Ray Allen in Mexico City.) I’d rather have a traffic cone on the interior than Huff playing defense. Obi has run as a backup five too, but backup center is something the Pacers are going to need to take a good look at right at the deadline to see if there are upgrades on the table.

Too early to talk on TJ. Jarace has ultimately been a disappointment. I’m not certain he has any more leeway, I don’t foresee him being on the roster come next year and he could be an interesting trade piece at the deadline for a backup center. Q has been really good, and has shown he can be a spark plug scorer when he’s not being asked to run the offense.

The two-way players have been really intriguing. Braden Smith has really impressed me with his ability to run the offense fast and make the right decisions for the most part when passing the ball. I think his size is a definitely problem, he’s not fast enough to get around defenders and ultimately is a major liability on the defensive end. His offensive ability to run the offense fast though makes him an intriguing backup option for an offense designed to run that way. Let’s talk about Slawson. I LOVE this guy. He needs to be on a standard ASAP. He busts his ass to try and make the play, runs hard, plays hard, and just has that dawg in him factor that this team needs. I really like Slawson and could see him picking up the minutes that Jarace probably will drop off with. Kobe Brown has been uninspiring, but I’m happy to have him as a two-way and hope he can continue to grow with the team. Shout-out the two-way guys for that performance v. the Hawks. That was some of the most fun I’ve had this season watching basketball.

Let’s talk about Rick. I love Rick, and he will be in the rafters for the Pacers undoubtedly. We’ve had some confusing moments from him early on this season with rotations and players performance. He had Q out there in crunch time during a free-throw versus the Mavs, Q missed the box-out and the Mavs got the offensive rebound leading to two more points for Coop. Honestly, I think Rick is giving guys chances and seeing what rotations can work because he know that he has the runway to. This team should be a playoff team- barring another catastrophic injury. I feel like Rick is trying to find what lineups work, who works well together, and figure some things out early without Tyrese. However, he has to find ways to win games. We will be without Ty for another five games minimum, we need to go 2-3 or better to really stay afloat.

MASSIVE game tonight versus the Knicks. The guys usually show out versus this team, and I’m eager to cheer on my beloved Pacers in the NBA Cup tonight. I will get more content out on basketball, finishing up my masters degree has been brutal.

LET’S GO PACERS.

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J.A. Riley