The Indiana Pacers and Denver Nuggets are set to meet Saturday, Nov. 7 at Arena CDMX in Mexico City, with tipoff scheduled for 5:00 p.m. EST. The game will air on 93.5 FM and 107.5 FM in Indiana, and on Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM/950 AM in Denver.
This is the first of two matchups between the teams in 2026-2027. Denver took the season series 2-0 last year, and the Pacers have gone 47-57 all-time in regular-season games against the Nuggets. Indiana is 30-23 at home in the matchup and 17-34 on the road.
The Pacers entered the season expecting a reset around Tyrese Haliburton’s return from a torn achilles, along with Ivica Zubac and Kelly Oubre stepping in for Myles Turner and Bennedict Mathurin. Instead, the early part of the year has been defined by injuries.
Denver also made a busy offseason push, adding DeMar DeRozan and Marvin Bagley in free agency, re-signing Tyus Jones and Spencer Jones, trading Peyton Watson for a first-round pick and a second-round pick, and selecting Trevon Brazile and Bryce Hopkins with the 35th and 49th picks in the 2026 NBA Draft.
The Nuggets are coming off a 107-103 win against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Pacers forward Pascal Siakam said the trip has been a positive one so far. “It's been great, came in, great welcome.
It's been great, it's been awesome, people been awesome. Obviously, I've been to Mexico before, but it's my first time in Mexico City.
It's great, i'm enjoying it so far, got some good food.”
He also pointed to Indiana’s injury situation. “It's been tough for us.
Obviously, we've had a lot of injuries. It happens in the league all over the place, but it's kind of hard when you have to deal with them super early on in the season, but at least it's right now and we can get guys back and get healthy, and we started getting guys back already, so we just want to continue to have guys back and play at full strength.”
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 🡒]