Andrew Nembhard was ruled out of the Thunder game with an injury

NBA action on Thursday night brought a rematch of the 2025 NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers. Alas, the Pacers no longer have the team of yesteryear; they no longer have Myles Turner on the roster, and Tyrese Halliburton will likely miss the entirety of it in the 2025-26 campaign after tearing his Achilles in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

Making matters worse for the Pacers’ underclassmen is the fact that Andrew Nembhardt, who many believed was headed for a big year, had to leave early against the Thunder in their ’25-’26 season opener (per ClutchPoints NBA Insider Brett Siegel). Nembhard suffered a shoulder injury after having a hand wrapped up by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and this was at least considered serious enough to warrant an early end to his first game of the new season.

The play above came with 9:11 left in the first quarter, so it’s not like the Pacers guard immediately felt cramping pain after getting tangled up with Gilgeous-Alexander.

Regardless, it certainly looked like this play hampered Nembhardt’s play throughout the first half, and perhaps the soreness in his shoulder flared up at halftime. One thing’s for sure: The Pacers won’t risk the health of one of their most important players, especially with two of the team’s top guards, Haliburton and TJ McConnell, currently on the injured shelf.

The Pacers started the second half with Ben Sheppard in place of Nembhardt. Nembhard finished the night with just four points and four assists as he missed all five of his field goal attempts and turned the ball over twice.

Fans hit Andrew Nembhard with gambling accusations after leaving the Pacers early

With Gambling-related arrests of Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier shocking the entire NBA world, fans are more critical of the players, wary that some of them might be guilty of some illegal betting activities.

For some fans, Nembhardt’s early departure from the Pacers and the NBA Finals rematch with the Thunder was highly alarming to the point where they called for the FBI to investigate him.

“He bet he’ll investigate this s**t,” Ks user @LeftiiGM wrote.

“FBI please check Andrew Nembhard’s FanDuel account,” @TheRealSteve8 he added.

“Feds apparently missed Andrew Nembhard in search,” @fulliautogoon further.

“I need the FBI to look into Andrew Nembhardt’s injury from tonight’s game because it’s a crazy suspect,” @splashlifeshula pointed out.

“FBI checks Nembhard injured shoulder,” @Halfrican_Jenks begged.