Eight Indiana Pacers have already been ruled out for Wednesday’s clash against one of the NBA’s two winless teams, the 0-7 Brooklyn Nets.
Thanks to its brutal injury luck (and, perhaps, a medical staff that should be on the hot seat soon?), Indiana isn’t doing much better, having fallen to a paltry 1-6 record after a heartbreaking 117-115 loss to the visiting Milwaukee Bucks on Monday.
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Indiana lost two guards, recent weekend hero Quenton Jackson and reserve shooting guard Johnny Furphy, to injuries late in the Bucks game. Jackson, whose surprise 25-point, 10-assist outburst helped the Pacers upset the Golden State Warriors 114-109 on Saturday, suffered a sore right hamstring. Furphy, who sprained his ankle, was later spotted exiting the arena on crutches.
All the injuries have inspired Indiana to bring in two new players, guard Mac McClung and power forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl. Robinson-Earl is merely on a 10-day hardship exception deal, but McClung agreed to a two-season standard contract.
Per the most recent NBA injury report, Furphy and Jackson are joining starting guards Andrew Nembhard (left shoulder strain) and Bennedict Mathurin (right great toe strain), rookie guard Kam Jones (lower back stress reaction), reserve point guard T.J. McConnell (left hamstring strain), and of course power forward Obi Toppin (right foot stress fracture) and All-NBA point guard Tyrese Haliburton (right Achilles tendon rupture) riding pine.
Guard RayJ Dennis is probable to play, as he deals with a sprained low back.
Haliburton is done for the year, Toppin is out until February, and even McConnell is on the shelf until at least December.
According to Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star, the dwindling supply of healthy Pacers players and the team’s coaching staff are still figuring out how best to adjust the constant, unwitting roster churn.
“You just see somebody new checking in,” forward Jarace Walker said of the injury-mandated changes, “and you’ve just gotta roll with it.”
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Head coach Rick Carlisle weighed in on how flexible his healthy Pacers have had to be as players depart with injuries.
“They’ve had to figure things out on the fly,” Carlisle said of his available players. “We have a lot of moving parts here. … We have a lot of guys who are playing unusual positions, and so there’s adjustments that are happening there. Everybody’s spirit is good about it and we just have to keep working at it. Both Aaron and Jarace are doing a good job and they’re both growing through this.”
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