Rienk Mast has gone from afterthought to one of the more interesting names in the Indiana Pacers’ frontcourt picture.
Indiana’s center depth has been a problem for a while, and even after the trade for Ivica Zubac at last year’s deadline, the room behind him still looks thin. Jay Huff is next up, but the source of the concern is obvious: he probably isn’t the kind of backup center a really strong team wants leaning on for long stretches.
That’s where Mast enters the conversation. The undrafted free agent has stacked a strong Las Vegas Summer League onto an equally good preseason, and now he looks like a possible candidate to earn a 10-day contract if the Pacers hit an emergency need in the big-man rotation.
He and Huff are similar in one key way - both are undersized centers who can shoot - but there’s an important roster wrinkle here. Huff is headed for free agency, while Mast stays under Indiana’s control as long as the team wants him.
With the backup center spot still unsettled, there’s a clear path for the Pacers to keep developing Mast and see whether he can grow into Zubac’s No. 2.
Mast’s route to this point has been a long one. He won at the junior level in the Netherlands before heading to Nebraska, where he put together a solid four-year college career. That was enough to get him a Summer League look with Indiana, and the comparison that followed was to former Pacers center and fellow Dutchman Rik Smits.
Smits reached the Hall of Fame, so that kind of ceiling is far off, if only because of the talent gap and because Zubac is standing in the way. But even without anything close to that kind of outcome, there’s still value in finding help from an undrafted player. For Indiana, that kind of hit could matter.
The larger issue is whether the Pacers can actually develop him. Over nearly the last 10 years, that hasn’t been one of the organization’s strengths. Indiana has had more success adding players through trades and watching them improve than it has with its own young drafted - or in this case undrafted - talent.
Chris Duarte did not pan out. Isaiah Jackson was useless. Jarace Walker, for now, has been little more than a flash in the pan this preseason.
Since Myles Turner, the one draft pick who has clearly worked out is Andrew Nembhard. The second-rounder won his way into the rotation quickly and is now a vital starter for a Pacers team trying to chase a title only a few years after he arrived.
It may be too much to expect Mast to become more than a solid eighth man. Even so, the more minutes he gets, the more it feels like he could turn into someone worth keeping around and investing in down the line.
In Other News...
Pacers Still Have Two Lineup Questions Hanging Over Opening Night
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Tyrese Haliburton also spoke about getting his preseason work in and using that time to get mentally ready for the games that count. Carlisle did not have a fresh update on T.J. McConnells injury status, but he did offer an optimistic note on the point guards recovery. For a Pacers group trying to get all the details lined up before the real thing begins, those are useful signs, even if the last few pieces are still waiting to fall into place. [Read more 🡒]
Tyrese Haliburton Is Why The Pacers Feel So Hard To Judge
Tyrese Haliburtons return to the floor has been the biggest reason the Pacers can even be discussed in a contender conversation again. After last season unraveled without him, Indiana finished with just 19 wins and spent the year out of the playoff picture, a reminder of how much his presence drives everything the team wants to do. His preseason return suggests the knee-jerk skepticism around the Pacers may be outdated, because when Haliburton is right, Indiana looks a lot more like the group that had people taking it seriously in the East.
Still, the league is not ready to settle on what Indiana is yet. NBA general managers remain unsure how to price the Pacers this season, and Haliburtons recovery status is a big reason why the conversation keeps wobbling between optimism and caution. For a team that can swing from intriguing to vulnerable depending on one players health, that makes Indiana one of the hardest rosters in the conference to peg. [Read more 🡒]
LeBron Just Put The Pacers Back In The East Contender Talk
LeBron James and Steve Nash spent part of their Mind the Game podcast revisiting the Indiana Pacers, and the conversation was less about where the team is now than where it could be headed. Their optimism centered on the 2026-27 season, when the Pacers core could be back in a more settled place, with Tyrese Haliburtons health looming as the biggest factor in how high the group can climb.
Haliburtons Achilles injury adds obvious uncertainty, and both James and Nash made clear it will take time for him to get back to his old form. They also pointed to Ivica Zubac as a strong fit for Indiana after Myles Turners departure, a reminder that the Pacers still have pieces that can keep them in the East conversation if the star guard returns close to himself. [Read more 🡒]