Andrew Nembhard is making a strong early-season case that Indiana can’t afford to treat him like a luxury item.
The Pacers guard has picked up right where he left off after last season, when he stepped into a bigger role in Tyrese Haliburton’s absence and put up career-best numbers: 16.9 points and 7.7 assists per game while shooting 36.1% from 3-point range on 5.2 attempts a night.
This season, Nembhard has been even sharper. Through seven games, he’s averaging 19 points, 6.9 assists and 2.1 rebounds while shooting 46.3% from the field, 39.5% from deep and 90.3% at the line.
Over his last three, he’s taken another jump, posting 22.3 points, 5.7 assists and 2.3 rebounds on 46/44/90.9 shooting splits. That stretch included a key role in Indiana’s 107-103 win over the then 6-2 Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.
The production has come with the kind of all-around value Indiana has come to expect from him. His efficiency is the best it has ever been.
He’s still a problem on defense. And with Haliburton missing time because of a hamstring injury, Nembhard has once again shown he can handle the ball and run the show when asked.
That’s what makes him so valuable to the Pacers. He fits cleanly next to Haliburton in the backcourt, but he’s also shown he can take on the lead-guard responsibilities when needed. The Gonzaga product impacts the game in a lot of different ways, and if Indiana wants a deep run this year, it needs him playing at this level.
The bigger question is what happens later.
Nembhard is eligible for a contract extension in the offseason, and on paper, keeping him should be simple. But Indiana has a long list of players who could be in line for new deals, including Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, Ivica Zubac, Obi Toppin and Jarace Wa-.
That puts the Pacers in a tough spot. They haven’t paid the luxury tax in more than 20 years, but holding onto their core may force them to change that habit. Whether they’re willing to do it is another matter.
There’s a real chance Indiana won’t be able to keep every extension-eligible player. And in that scenario, Nembhard could be the one left vulnerable.
Haliburton and Siakam look like obvious keepers. Zubac, after being acquired with a first-round pick during a down year, seems too important to lose after just one season, especially with the team still needing a center.
Toppin may not have Nembhard’s talent, but he would be cheaper and harder to replace.
Even with that in mind, Nembhard’s case is strong. He’ll be 27 in January, doesn’t have a huge ceiling, and could be the easiest piece to replace because he isn’t an anchor and is technically playing out of position.
But the Pacers should still keep him. He has repeatedly shown how important he is to their success, and he keeps proving he can rise to the moment when the team needs him most. If the choice comes down to preserving the core or moving on from Nembhard to dodge the luxury tax, the answer should be straightforward: keep the group together and ride it out.
In Other News...
Tyrese Haliburtons Latest Injury Absence Leaves Pacers Waiting Again
Tyrese Haliburton is staying in Indianapolis for treatment of a left hamstring strain and will not travel with the Pacers to Mexico City, another reminder of how carefully Indiana has had to manage its point guard early in the season. Rick Carlisle said Haliburton is going through treatment that includes time in a hyperbaric chamber, and the coach added that the star guard is in good spirits as the team hopes to get him back soon.
For a Pacers group trying to keep its rhythm while juggling injuries, Haliburtons absence changes everything from pace to late-game organization. Indiana has had to keep moving without him while also monitoring the rest of the roster, and the latest update only adds to the sense that the team is still waiting for its full identity to come together. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Just Weighed In On A Growing NBA Expansion Debate
The NBAs expansion conversation keeps getting louder, and Rick Carlisle added a little more fuel to it this week. The Pacers coach said a team in Mexico City is certainly possible as the league continues sorting through where and when it might grow next, with commissioner Adam Silver saying expansion is still a few seasons away and that Las Vegas and Seattle remain the most active candidates.
Mexico City is hardly a blind spot for the league, either. The NBA has already staged games at Arena CDMX, where the G Leagues Mexico City Capitanes play, and the idea of a full-time franchise there has long carried real traction around the league. Carlisles comments fit into a broader debate that now includes player reaction as well, even if the final shape of expansion is still very much up in the air. [Read more 🡒]
Rick Carlisle Sees Something Bigger In This Pacers Showcase
Rick Carlisle has been around long enough to see the league change in just about every way, and now the Pacers coach is adding another milestone to a rsum that already puts him in rare company. In his 25th season as an NBA head coach, Carlisle recently reached 1,000 career wins, becoming just the 11th coach in league history to do it, a reminder of how much basketball he has seen while moving from one organization to the next.
Now comes a different kind of stage for Indiana, which is set to play its first game in Mexico against the Denver Nuggets. Carlisle has been reflective about the path that brought him here, praising the organizations and players he has worked with along the way, but he also sounds energized by what this Pacers group is building. For a team still shaping its identity, an international showcase offers more than a novelty trip. It is another chance to see how far that identity can travel. [Read more 🡒]