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NBA Analyst Expects Pacers 'to Get Back on Track' Once Tyrese Haliburton Returns
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- NBA Analyst Expects Pacers 'to Get Back on Track' Once Tyrese Haliburton Returns
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)
The Indiana Pacers have started the season 3-6.
They are in ninth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
However, NBA analyst Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report expects the Pacers "to get back on track" once Tyrese Haliburton returns from his injury.
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Haliburton has a left hamstring strain and will miss around two weeks. The All-Star point guard missed the entire 2025-26 season recovering from the Achilles tendon tear he suffered in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Haliburton is averaging 21.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 9.5 assists per game this season. The two-time All-Star is shooting 51.6% from the field, 37.0% from beyond the arc and 86.7% from the free-throw line.
Haliburton signed a five-year, $244 million extension with the Pacers in July 2023. Indiana acquired him from the Sacramento Kings in 2022.
One of the top floor generals in the NBA, Haliburton had an outstanding 2024-25 campaign for the Pacers. He averaged 18.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, 9.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.7 blocks per game and made the All-NBA Third Team.
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Just like last season, Indiana is struggling to win games without Haliburton. It also doesn't help that Ivica Zubac is hurt as well. The center is currently out with a left ankle injury.
So far, the Zubac trade has been a disaster for the Pacers. The big man played in only five games with Indiana last season and he's appeared in just three games this season.
Zubac is averaging 9.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game this season. He's shooting 60.0% from the field and 50.0% from the foul line.
The Pacers lost their first-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft on Mother's Day during the draft lottery because of the Zubac trade with the LA Clippers last season.
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Indiana needed to land in the top four to keep its pick after trading it with protections to LAC for Zubac. The trade sent two of the Pacers' first-round picks to the Clippers: one in 2029 and either this year's first if it fell outside the top four or a 2031 unprotected first-rounder if it did not.
Because the Washington Wizards moved up in the lottery, Indiana landed fifth, so the pick went to LAC instead.
The Pacers could have drafted AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer or Caleb Wilson. Instead, they have to pray that Zubac plays like an All-Star this season.
It's unknown when Zubac and Haliburton will play again.
