The Indiana Pacers will open the season without two rotation pieces, but they’re getting their biggest name back in the mix.
T.J. McConnell and Aaron Nesmith are both out for Wednesday’s opener at the New Orleans Pelicans after landing on the NBA injury report Tuesday evening with hamstring strains. McConnell is dealing with a right hamstring strain, while Nesmith has a left hamstring strain.
Johnny Furphy is also out as he continues to recover from surgery to repair his right ACL. The other names on Indiana’s report are tied to G League status rather than injuries: Braden Smith is doubtful, while Kobe Brown and Jalen Slawson are probable.
McConnell’s status had been murky for most of the preseason, and Rick Carlisle wasn’t offering much before the league’s official report dropped.
"Check the injury report when it comes out," Carlisle said.
The veteran guard didn’t play in Ames on Oct. 7, then sat again for Atlanta’s visit three nights later. He also missed both overtime games, at Oklahoma City on Oct. 13 and at home against Milwaukee on Oct. 16, though the team did not explain those absences at the time.
Now 34, McConnell is in his eighth season with Indiana and 12th in the NBA. Two seasons ago, during the Pacers’ Finals run, he averaged 9.1 points and 4.4 assists per game in the regular season.
Smith, meanwhile, is a 23-year-old rookie from Purdue. Haliburton has compared his passing to McConnell’s, and in the Oct. 13 game at Oklahoma City, Smith’s five assists matched Ivica Zubac and Quenton Jackson for the team lead. Chicago traded his draft rights to Indiana on June 24.
Nesmith’s absence is another hit on the wing. He also sat out the preseason finale against Milwaukee on Oct. 16, a 128-127 overtime loss in which Indiana played its starters only in the first half. That game came on his 27th birthday.
Nine days earlier, he had been Indiana’s top scorer in the preseason opener, finishing with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting in a 123-112 win over Minnesota in Ames, Iowa.
Boston sent Nesmith to Indiana in July 2022, and he had been projected to start on the wing alongside Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Pascal Siakam, and Zubac.
Haliburton, though, is set to go. Carlisle said he expects a physical opener, with both teams bringing aggression and pace.
"I'm sure he's ready," Carlisle explained. "I'm sure he's ready. It's, 16 or 17 months is a long time."
Haliburton had his own scare early in the preseason, tweaking an ankle in Ames on Oct. 7 and missing the Atlanta game three nights later. Carlisle said the MRI looked good, and Haliburton returned for the final two exhibitions, putting up 24 points at Oklahoma City and 17 against Milwaukee.
The only issue in the finale came on the final play of the first half, when he took a charley horse.
"I'm good," Haliburton said after that game. "I just [took] a knee. I get a few charley horses a year, so stretch, and I'll be fine."
On Tuesday, he said he is "just fine" and in "a good place from a basketball standpoint."
Furphy, who turns 22 in December, tore the ACL in his right knee in February. San Antonio traded his draft rights to Indiana in July 2024.
Brown came to Indiana as the second player in the Zubac deal with the LA Clippers on Feb. 5, when Indiana sent out Bennedict Mathurin and Isaiah Jackson. Slawson, who turns 27 on Thursday, has been with the Pacers since September 2025 after playing at Furman. Two-way players can move between Indiana and the Noblesville Boom, the team’s G League affiliate.
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