Pascal Siakam’s preseason has been shaky enough to raise eyebrows, but not shaky enough to rewrite the Pacers’ script just yet.
That’s the tightrope Indiana is walking right now. A lot of the offseason conversation centered on fit questions: Would Tyrese Halliburton look like himself again?
Would Ivica Zubac mesh with a roster that, at least on paper, didn’t seem built around his biggest strengths? Would there be enough wing shooting to make the rotations functional?
Two, maybe three, of those answers have landed in the positive. The latest concern has a different feel. After a string of rough preseason outings, Siakam has created a fresh worry: is this just a blip, or is a 32-year-old starting to lose a step?
The early numbers are not pretty. Through three preseason games, Siakam is 1/9 from three, is averaging fewer than two rebounds per game, and has finished with a negative plus-minus in two of those three contests. He’s also been doing most of that work alongside the starters, which makes the slowdown harder to ignore.
Still, there’s no need to light the panic siren. The bigger issue is simply what Indiana would have to ask of everyone else if Siakam’s level really has dipped. The Pacers have looked strong this summer, but a downturn in his rebounding, shooting, or downhill aggression would touch every part of their offense.
That’s because Siakam isn’t just another scorer in the mix. Tyrese Halliburton may be the team’s clear headliner, but Siakam has carried plenty of the on-ball burden since arriving in Indiana in the trade with Toronto that cost the Pacers Bruce Brown’s bloated contract and a bundle of mid-to-late first-round picks. He has been the team’s leading scorer since that deal.
And what Indiana asks him to do is hardly glamorous. He is allowed to get shots, but the burden is a different one entirely. In a system that avoids isolation basketball, Siakam does the uncomfortable work - scoring late in the clock, guarding opposing forwards, and pushing in transition to match the team’s pace and personality.
That role has mattered even more over the last two seasons, when the Pacers have leaned on him and not asked him to lean on much else. That doesn’t mean the roster around him is empty, just that when Indiana gets stuck, it is Pascal who usually gets the rescue job.
If he can’t consistently be that guy, the math changes fast. More of the scoring load shifts onto Halliburton and Zubac, and even if both are capable of taking on more, that wasn’t the idea behind building this group. The whole point of keeping Indiana’s best players together was to let them smooth out each other’s load.
Take one of those pillars away, even temporarily, and the Pacers become much easier to defend. The regular season gets harder on the people the team most needs to stay fresh.
So yes, the preseason has been rough for Siakam. But for now, the best-case outcome still looks like the most sensible one: that this is just an October problem.
In Other News...
LeBron Just Put All The Pressure On Tyrese Haliburtons Return
LeBron James has already added a fresh layer of intrigue to Indianas outlook by pointing to the Pacers comeback potential and tying it directly to Tyrese Haliburtons health. For a team that has built so much of its identity around Haliburtons playmaking and feel for the game, the timing matters as much as anything else. His recent return to five-on-five work after an Achilles injury is a notable step, and it has naturally revived bigger questions about where the Pacers can go once he is fully back.
Haliburtons importance goes beyond the box score because so much of Indianas offense runs through his decision-making and pace. The Pacers have other pieces expected to help them push back toward contender status, but the conversation keeps circling back to the guard who changes the ceiling when he is right. LeBrons comments only sharpened that reality, turning Haliburtons comeback into more than a routine injury update and into a central part of the Pacers larger hopes. [Read more 🡒]
Ivica Zubac Is Quieting One Big Pacers Concern Fast
Ivica Zubac has wasted little time giving the Pacers a feel for what they were after when they brought him over from the Clippers. In preseason play, he has already shown the kind of steady interior presence Indiana has been looking for, helping on the glass, setting solid screens and chipping in points around the rim. For a team that wanted more reliability in the paint, that kind of early impact matters.
The bigger picture is just as encouraging for Indiana because Zubac does not have to be the focal point to matter. His game is versatile enough to fit alongside the Pacers core pieces, and his ability to operate as a third option gives the offense another layer without forcing touches. If this early stretch is any indication, one of the teams biggest concerns is being addressed quickly. [Read more 🡒]
Tyrese Haliburton Gave Pacers Fans An Early Reason To Believe
Tyrese Haliburton was back in the lineup for the Pacers third preseason game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and he wasted little time giving Indiana something to build on. In a 114-112 overtime loss, Haliburton looked sharp offensively, finishing with 24 points on 9-for-14 shooting while adding three assists, three rebounds and two blocks after sitting out the previous game.
For a preseason game that ended in a narrow defeat, the bigger takeaway for Indiana was the way Haliburton looked running the show again. The Pacers also got a strong night from Ivica Zubac, who posted 13 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and three steals in just 18 minutes, but Haliburtons return was the clearest sign the team can start imagining what its offense might look like once the games count. [Read more 🡒]