It will be very unlikely for the Indiana Pacers to recapture the magic of last year as they are (most likely) going to be without their best player, Tyrese Haliburton , for the entirety of the 2025-26 campaign. While they have been putting up an incredible fight in their season-opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Haliburton is going to be such a major loss for the league's biggest darling.

Haliburton is the engine that drives this Pacers offense, and it's not quite clear how Indiana will be competing with another man powering this machine. Bennedict Mathurin and Pascal Siakam are poised for big years, and so might be Andrew Nembhard despite his rough opening night, but the floor general's contributions aren't going to be replaced or filled that easily.

On ESPN's Thursday ni

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