Championship teams usually have a star or two everyone can name in an instant. The Bulls had Michael Jordan.
The Warriors had Steph Curry. The Cavaliers had LeBron James.
But the teams that actually get over the top almost always get a boost from somewhere deeper on the roster, from a player who comes in on the cheap and ends up swinging real games.
That’s where the Pacers start to look thin.
Indiana does not have many obvious candidates to become that kind of unexpected difference-maker. Beyond the top eight, the list gets shaky fast.
Jarace Walker and Ben Sheppard are there, but both are being treated like draft busts from a 2023 class that was disastrous for the Pacers’ rebuild. Jay Huff is in the mix as the stopgap center Indiana added ahead of last year’s gap year to replace Myles Turner after he left for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Larry Nance Jr. is around as a veteran locker room presence.
That’s the extent of the group with real rotation experience on a non-tanking NBA team.
Quenton Jackson earned a minimum deal after showing some growth in a gap year. Johnny Furphy has only about 85 career games under his belt, and he has not shot league average in either of his two seasons. When you stack those six players together with Indiana’s three two-way spots, Furphy stands out as the likeliest name to make a leap toward fringe starter territory, provided he stays healthy.
Even then, the overall picture is hard to ignore. The Pacers look like a team that would have trouble absorbing injuries of any kind, much less the wave they dealt with last season. If they’re going to hold up, they’ll need one of the failed draft picks or second-round flyers to patch a hole quickly.
This is not a sinking ship. But the cracks are visible, and they’re hard to miss.
In Other News...
Tyrese Haliburton Had A Painful Knicks Confession Pacers Fans Will Feel
Tyrese Haliburtons name still sits at the center of everything the Pacers do, but this week he was talking about a different kind of heartbreak. On the Boardroom Podcast, the Indiana guard opened up about watching the New York Knicks win the NBA championship while he was sidelined by injury, and he didnt try to hide how complicated that moment felt. The reaction came with a mix of anger, happiness and sadness, a reminder that even as the Knicks achievement demanded respect, it also forced him to sit out the playoff run he wanted most.
For Pacers fans, the confession lands with extra weight because the rivalry has been heated enough already, and Haliburtons ties to some Knicks players only add another layer to it. He made clear that friendships can coexist with competition, even when the team on the other side is celebrating the title he was unable to chase. It leaves the same lingering thought that has hung over Indiana since the injury: how different all of this might have felt if Haliburton had been healthy enough to be on the floor. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Season May Come Down To One Tyrese Haliburton Question
Yahoo Sports Kevin OConnor pegged the Pacers 14th in his NBA preseason power rankings, a middle-of-the-pack spot that fits a team trying to stay relevant while reshaping the edges of its roster. Indiana is expected to open next season with Tyrese Haliburton and Andrew Nembhard in the backcourt, Aaron Nesmith and Pascal Siakam on the wing, and Ivica Zubac anchoring the middle, a lineup that looks sturdy enough on paper to keep the Pacers in the mix if the pieces fit.
But the bigger question remains how much of this group can truly be built around Haliburton as the season unfolds. Indiana already paid a real price to get Zubac, sending a first-round pick to the Clippers after the Pacers landed fifth in the draft lottery, and moves like that only matter if the core takes the next step. For a team sitting in that uncertain stretch of the preseason pecking order, the answer to one Haliburton question may end up shaping everything else. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Camp Could Decide More Than Fans Realize About This Bench
The Pacers head into training camp with the top of the rotation looking fairly settled, but the real intrigue is lower on the roster, where several bench jobs are still up for grabs. The backup wing spot is one of the clearest competitions, with Isaiah Walker and Aaron Sheppard both trying to make a case, while the second unit frontcourt has its own battle brewing between Isaiah Huff and Larry Nance Jr. for the backup center role.
There is also a contract wrinkle that could shape how the final bench takes form, since two-way players Jalen Slawson and Kobe Brown are competing for a standard NBA deal. For Indiana, these decisions are more than housekeeping, because training camp and preseason will help determine not just who sticks, but which skill sets the coaching staff trusts when the season begins. [Read more 🡒]