The Pacers Might Not Be Able To Field A Team For Tonight's Game With 10 Players Out, Including All 5 Starters

Rick Carlisle better get Young Mantis on the phone, the Pacers need shooters. What the hell is going on in Indiana? TEN players are out for the Pacers, which includes ALL FIVE starters. ALL FIVE STARTERS!? Is Indiana tanking again!? The full injury report is so long it doesn't even fit in the tweet without clicking SHOW MORE. There are more players out than there are healthy players. This is who the Pacers have lacing up tonight ...

- Jay Huff

-Jarace Walker 

-Kelly Oubre

-Braden Smith

-Kobe Smith

-Jalen Slawson

-Quenton Jackson

Ummm .... that's not good. I've been repeating "everything is fine" over and over again since the news of the Haliburton injury dropped last week, and for the first time this season I'm ready to admit - everything is not fine. It looks like a lot of people are sick, and I understand Indy has had a lot of travel while coming off a back to back, so a lot of these are probably just being precautious with 6 months of the season left to go. 

The sky isn't falling, the season isn't over, but this team needs to get healthy before they fall too far behind. Losing at home to the Brooklyn Nets, or on in MIL in front of 2,000 fans are games you'll want back in a competitive east. The silver lining is at least the entire NBA is also hurt. 15% of the NBA was out by game 4 of the season. Granted the Pacers might be 7% of that total. Nobody panic, just keep telling yourselves the Pacers started the 2024 -2025 season at 10-15, and ended up in the finals.