Indiana Pacers 2025-26 Season Prediction | Can They Compete Without Tyrese Haliburton?
Well, game seven of the NBA finals brought devastation for the fan base of the Indiana Pacers when Tyrese Hallebertton went down early in the game with that ugly Achilles injury. The Pacers said Tyrese will not play this upcoming season after getting surgery. That is a tough pill to swallow for Indiana fans, myself included. That was very tough to watch for those of us from Indiana who grew up cheered on the Pacers. We welcome in CBS Sports NBA analyst John Gonzalez once again. John, the Pacers and myself have grieved the loss of the finals and their star all in one game. But as they move forward, what does this team look like without Tyrese? What’s their fate? Who steps in in Hallebertton’s absence? Please give me a little bit of hope and positivity here, John. I’m relying on you. Yeah, I want to say I’m so sorry for your loss. I sent you uh some flowers and a get well soon card. But it’s tough stuff out there for Indiana Pacers fans. Yeah, without Tyrese Hallebertton. I guess if there’s two guys from the guard position that I think will have to step up. It’s obviously TJ McConnell and Benedict Mathan. TJ McConnell is their bench general. He runs that second unit unit. He brings in a lot of energy. There was a case to be made for and I’m sure you and all these uh Pacers fans know there’s a case to be made if you guys had won if Indiana had won the finals. There’s a case to be made that TJ McConnell could have been Finals MVP. That’s how good he was. I’m not sure if they want to yank him out of that role running that second unit because it, you know, it might sort of throw off the balance and the chemistry a little bit uh to put him in the starting lineup, but he’s a candidate. And then Benedict Matri, he’s just instant offense. He’s an absolute bucket. He’s a primarily a scoring guard. He’s obviously a very different player than Tyresese Hallebertton, but they’re going to need more from him whether or not he starts or not. And then from not the guard position, obviously uh Pascal Seakum, they’re going to need him to be the all-star spicy P that he’s been previously. No Tyrese Hallebertton, no Miles Turner, too, I who I know we’re going to start out talk about. So, you’re down two of your five starters after an incredible season where you make it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second year in a row and then you go to the finals for the first time in 25 years. So, yeah, all hands on deck. Everybody’s going to have to step up. I’m so sorry. Yeah, you didn’t make me feel any better. Uh, you know, you mentioned TJ McConnell. I remember tweeting in the middle of that game seven. I said, “TJ McConnell, take us to the promised land.” Because it looked like he was going to go off had they won that game. You think about T.J. McConnell being the MVP of the NBA. Like what? That’s a wild, wild existence. But of course, it did not pan out that way. So, one thing that a lot of Pacers fans are wondering at this point is a playoff run lost without Tyrese Hallebertton. I almost don’t want to hear your answer. No, I don’t think so. I I actually think like look, Rick Carile had said so many times that they’re greater than just Tyrese Hallebertton, that they’re more than the sum of their parts. And I think that’s absolutely right. I mean, they’re a really deep team. Now, is it hard uh on a team to lose two of your five starters, Tyresese Hallebertton and Miles Turner? Yeah, absolutely. It’s going to make things more difficult, right? Naturally, that’s true. But I still think that because this team is so deep and because they’re built in a way that uh it’s really a cast of characters and not centered on just one player that that sets them up pretty well to make a playoff run. Now, what kind of playoff run are we talking about? Are they going to make it back to the Eastern Conference Finals or the Finals? I have my doubts about that. However, in the Eastern Conference, that’s I know I I want nice things for my friends in Indiana and for you, Trisha. But look here, you want to do positive, let’s do positive, right? In the Eastern Conference, you’ve got the Cavs and the Knicks I think are pretty clearly above everybody else. After that, there’s another tier of these teams on the come that I like a lot. The Magic who added Desmond Bane, the Pistons, who were a couple of balls bouncing a different way from unseating the Knicks, and then the Atlanta Hawks, who had just an absolutely fantastic off seasonason. After that, I think the Pacers are right there in that in the fighting for that last playoff proper spot with the Sixers or maybe a playin spot with the Bucks and the Celtics and the Raptors and, you know, all the other affluvia in the Eastern Conference. So, yes, it’s going to be tougher, but you guys can still do it. Oh, thank you. I love that because you know what? Let me tell you something though, real quick. When you looked at the odds for the Pacers at the end of last season during the offseason, they were not good and look at what they did. So, you are right. It still is possible. All right. Our next question revolves around a guy you previously mentioned that is Miles Turner. He had been the longest tender pacer on that team. When you thought of the Pacers for so long, you thought of Miles Turner. So now, what is the impact of Miles Turner leaving Indiana and going to the Bucks? Yeah. Not great, right? I mean, he was there for 10 years and for 10 years it felt like every year we heard, “Oh, Miles Turner is about to get traded. Miles Turner is about to get traded.” The Lakers were always a hot destination, right? and then they go to the finals and he plays well through the postseason and you think, okay, this is the year that we put all that to rest. Miles Turner isn’t going anywhere. Of course, they’re going to pay him. Well, I actually think that had Tyrese Hallebertton not gotten hurt that they probably would have paid him. The ripple effects of Tyres Hallebertton getting hurt is Herb Simon, the owner of the Indiana Pacers, he’s never paid the tax. He looks at this and goes, “Why am I paying the tax for a team that’s not going to have Tyres Hallebertton for an entire year? Why am I going to go and pay Miles Turner when we probably aren’t going to get back to the Eastern Conference Finals or the Finals without those two guys? We’ll just let him walk. Now, what are the ramifications of that? It’s not great because center options here, you’re looking at two guys who uh you you’ve got some holdovers for Thomas Bryant, Tony Bradley, uh Jay Huff is a guy that I really like. But yeah, with without Tyrese Hallebertton and also Miles Turner, it’s one of those situations where you look at it and go, man, that you know, it’s going to be really difficult to replace. and they’ve got a lot of work to do now just trying to cobble together in the aggregate all the production that Miles Turner had. Yeah, you think about that ripple effect and you look at some franchises and there are certain moments that define them in terms of disappointment as they move through the years and I look at that Hallebertton injury as one of them. So, John, let me ask you this. What does that offseason position battle, I know you mentioned it briefly, but what does that position battle at center look like for the Pacers? Yeah, I think there are probably like four possibilities here. There’s two holdovers and two, we’ll call them newbies, although one of them isn’t really. So, last year he had Thomas Bryant and Tony Bradley. Both are costc controlled. Both saw time in the postseason. Rick Carile, as we know, likes to go deep into his bench. Both are limited though. They’re not really Turner Avatars. Neither one of them can really shoot all that well. Uh, and also Thomas Bryant is a free agent, so he might be gone anyway. And the newbies are Jay Huff and James Weissman. Now, Weissman was on the team last year, but as you and other Pacers fans remember, he tore his Achilles in the opening game, which is not great. I think the answer here might actually be Jay Huff. He’s pretty good. I think casual fans might not know him. Played 64 games for the Grizz last year. Not a great rebounder, but shot 40% from three and he protects the rim a little bit, which does that sound like anybody we know? That’s kind of what Miles Turner did, right? Not exactly a great rebounder, but a very good rim protector and a very good shooter from distance. So, if I was a betting man, and I want to just caveat this here, I am not because I’m terrible at it, but if I were, I’d go with Jay Huff as the replacement. Hey, listen. I love it. in Jay-Huff we trust. I appreciate that. John Gonzalez, thank you so much for joining us and thank you for giving me some positivity about my Pacers. All right, let’s take a look at the those odds to win the Eastern Conference. The Cavs, they have the best odds to win the East. The Knicks are right there with them. Then the Magic and the Hawks, but the Pacers, who we just address, not so great. Bucks, who just got Miles Turner, also not so great. But allow me to point out that at the end of last season, the Pacers were plus 2500 to win the East. So that shows you how much these things can change and potentially be wrong. When you need your sports news all the time, we’ve got breaking news to bring to you. CBS Sports HQ gives you a snapshot of all the sports that matter to you. 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John Gonzalez joins CBS Sports HQ Spotlight to preview and predict the 2025-26 season for the Indiana Pacers.
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