The Indiana Pacers are heading into next season with the kind of buzz that only comes when Tyrese Haliburton is back in the mix.
NBA.com’s Shaun Powell pointed to Indiana as a team that could be ready to “make noise” again, and the reason is pretty simple: Haliburton and Pascal Siakam give the Pacers a foundation that still looks dangerous. Powell wrote, “Nonetheless, a team with Haliburton back and Pascal Siakam playing at All-Star level is poised to make noise anyway,”
That optimism comes with some real firepower. The Pacers are widely expected to open next season with Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Siakam and Ivica Zubac in the starting five. On paper, that’s one of the strongest first units in the league.
Haliburton’s 2024-25 season was a big one before the injury changed everything. He put up 18.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, 9.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.7 blocks per game, earning All-NBA Third Team honors along the way.
Indiana’s run last season backed up the hype. The Pacers reached the NBA Finals in 2025 and came within one game of the title. They were winning in Oklahoma City when Haliburton tore his Achilles in Game 7, and there’s a clear sense that the team believes it had a shot to finish the job if he had stayed healthy.
That’s part of why the coming season feels loaded with motivation for both Haliburton and the Pacers. Some pundits have already written off Indiana as a contender and questioned whether Haliburton will return to the All-Star level he had before the injury. The Pacers will get a chance to answer that on the floor.
Haliburton’s numbers tell you why the league is waiting. He owns career regular-season averages of 17.5 points and 8.8 assists per game, and his playoff line sits at 17.9 points and 8.4 assists per game.
Indiana also made a major move last season by acquiring Zubac from the LA Clippers, but the deal came with a steep price. The Pacers had to land in the top four to keep their first-round pick in the 2026 draft, and they lost that pick because of the trade protections attached to the deal. The trade sent two first-round picks to the Clippers: one in 2029 and either this year’s first if it fell outside the top four or a 2031 unprotected first-rounder if it did not.
The wait for Haliburton’s return won’t last much longer. Indiana opens the 2026-27 regular season on October 21 against the New Orleans Pelicans.
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T.J. McConnell Owns A Rare Stat Pacers Fans Should Appreciate More
T.J. McConnell has long been one of those Pacers players whose value shows up in ways that dont always make the loudest headlines. He has built his reputation in Indiana on energy, pressure defense and the kind of hustle that changes a game without needing a scorekeepers spotlight, which is part of why he has become such a reliable piece for this team heading into the 2026-27 season.
One reminder of just how unusual his game can be came on March 3, 2021, against Cleveland, when McConnell became one of only two active NBA players to post 10 assists and 10 steals in a single game. He also set an NBA record with nine steals in the first half, a sort of all-over-the-floor performance that Pacers fans should probably appreciate more every time he turns a loose ball into a possession the other way. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Just Got A Brutal Reminder About The Easts New Reality
The East just got a fresh jolt of star power, and for Indiana it serves as a sharp reminder of how crowded the path has become. According to Shams Charania, the Clippers have sent Kawhi Leonard to Toronto in a deal that brings back two unprotected first-round picks, Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick, a swing that changes the balance of power and deepens the list of teams with real top-end talent in the conference.
For the Pacers, the timing matters because they have built around depth, speed and continuity, but not around a clear top-10 player. That can be a hard sell in a conference where contenders keep adding marquee names and high-end talent, and it leaves Indiana with a familiar question as it looks ahead: how far can a well-constructed roster carry them if the ceiling around them keeps rising? [Read more 🡒]
Tyrese Haliburton Just Reminded Everyone What The Pacers Still Depend On
Dean Olivers recent argument that Tyrese Haliburton belongs in the conversation as the best player from the 2020 NBA Draft only reinforces how central he has become to everything Indiana wants to do. Since arriving in a 2022 trade, Haliburton has piled up two All-NBA Third Team nods and two All-Star appearances, and the Pacers have already seen how sharply their level drops when he is not on the floor.
Even with a five-year extension signed in 2023, the bigger question now is less about his standing around the league and more about how Indiana manages him going into the new season. The Pacers know what they depend on when Haliburton is running the offense, which is why there is so much attention on whether he will be brought along carefully as the schedule begins. [Read more 🡒]