The Indiana Pacers had just six players available for Monday's 108-104 home loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Injuries and rest kept Tyrese Haliburton and 10 teammates out on the second night of a back-to-back.
The bare-bones group took the floor just eight games into a season that many expected to be a bounce-back year for Haliburton and Co. Fans quickly questioned how a team could be this depleted so early on, while one called for refunds for those in attendance.
Indiana's six available players were earning about $15 million combined this season, according to The Associated Press, while roughly $193 million in salary sat out. No Pacers team had gone with so few players since 2004.
Braden Smith made the first start of his NBA career alongside Quenton Jackson, Jalen Slawson, Jarace Walker, and Jay Huff, with Kobe Brown as the lone reserve. Smith, Slawson, and Brown are all on two-way deals, and Walker was the only one of the six earning more than $3 million.
"It's kind of a perfect storm of things happening at once," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said in his pregame news conference. "It's unlucky. But we have to be smart here." Kelly Oubre Jr., nursing a bruised knee, was then ruled out shortly before tipoff.
Along with Haliburton (hamstring) and Oubre, the Pacers were without Pascal Siakam (rest), Andrew Nembhard (cervical injury management), Aaron Nesmith (hamstring injury management), Ivica Zubac (ankle), T.J. McConnell (hamstring), Larry Nance Jr. (illness), Johnny Furphy (knee), Ben Sheppard (knee), and Obi Toppin (back).
Siakam, Nembhard, Nesmith, and Oubre had all started Sunday's 98-90 home loss to the Brooklyn Nets.
One fan took issue with Indiana's cautious approach, writing, "Fandom aside, this is gross. If you're hurt, you're hurt, if you can play, you should play."
Another turned to the fans in the seats, arguing the Pacers "should be forced to refund ticket sales to customers and also be fined by the NBA for this debacle tonight. This is not tanking, but it's also not trying to win."
"Only the 8th game of the year and the Pacers are putting out a lineup you run at the end of the season in a game that doesn't matter. NBA clearly has some injury/scheduling problems they need to deal with," one fan vented.
Nights like this rarely arrive so early. Over the last 15 seasons, a team had gone with only six players just seven other times, nearly all in late-season games with nothing at stake, and no team had used fewer than eight this season before Monday.
Another fan worried about how little margin for error remained:
"The Pacers are 1 in-game injury away from forfeiting. The league is a mess, this is embarrassing."
The rulebook did offer some cushion against that scenario, as Indiana reporter Tony East laid out :
"If the Pacers have two guys foul out, the 6th foul for the second player will lead to a technical foul instead of an ejection. That player stays in."
East added that "if someone fouls out then someone else gets hurt, the player who fouled out can re-enter the game."
Neither rule came into play, since no Pacer finished with more than 3 fouls.
Another fan joked that the Pacers should turn to the Indiana Fever's backcourt for a quick fix:
"They should let Kelsey Mitchell get a few shots up."
Indiana's six available players still put up an admirable fight. Trailing 68-56 at halftime, the Pacers outscored the Hawks 48-40 in the second half and held a 54-26 edge in points in the paint despite shooting just 8-for-34 from deep (23.5%). Huff led the way with 22 points and 8 rebounds, while Smith added 19 points and 10 assists on 8-for-13 shooting (61.5%).
The loss, Indiana's second at home in as many days, dropped it to 2-6 as the team tries to tread water in Haliburton's absence.
The star guard averaged 21.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 9.5 assists in his first four games back from a torn right Achilles before he was diagnosed with a hamstring strain. He was labeled week-to-week last Wednesday, leaving the Pacers without their floor general for the foreseeable future.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network .
