Indiana will miss Tyrese Haliburton in the biggest areas

It will be unlikely for Indiana Pacers to recapture the magic of last year as they will (most likely) be without their best player, Tyrese Halliburtonfor the entire 2025-26 campaign. As they put up an incredible fight in the season opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Halliburton will be such a big loss for the biggest pet of the league.

Halliburton is the engine that drives this Pacers offense, and it’s not entirely clear how Indiana will compete with another man running this machine. Benedict Maturin and Pascal I am ready for big years, as did Andrew Nembhardt despite his rough opening night, but the Generals’ contributions won’t be replaced or filled so easily.

On ESPN’s Thursday night broadcast of the Pacers’ season opener against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, they showed the graphics it gives a glimpse of how valuable Halliburton was last year to the team. Indiana went 33-4 (89.1 percent) whenever he scored 20 points or more, they went 20-3 (86.9 percent) when he dished out 12 or more assists, and 61-35 when he was on the active roster (playoffs and regular season combined).

Having an elite point guard on the controls is what made the Pacers so dangerous last season. Halliburton’s number one goal as a basketball player is to make everyone around him better, and he does that with the way he plays so unselfishly. But Indiana’s game reaches a whole new level whenever he becomes more aggressive in pursuit of his shot, and his threat to score makes his game even more dangerous.

The Pacers will also miss Halliburton’s penchant for huge daggers in the clutch, as Indiana wouldn’t have made it to Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals in the first place if it weren’t for some crazy shots he hit.

Tyrese Haliburton may be gone, but the Pacers’ fighting spirit lives on

Haliburton was simply the biggest star of such a well-rounded Pacers ensemble last year. Indiana is undoubtedly worse off without him, but make no mistake, they have established a winning identity and culture that should stick even though he won’t be on the field this season.

They showed that by playing the Thunder in the season opener on Thursday. Indiana did fall in 2OT, 141-135, but it’s clear the Pacers won’t be written off this year just because Halliburton is out with an injury.