Pacers News: Insider Makes Brutal Prediction for Indiana This Season

An NBA expert has made a devastating prediction for the Indiana Pacers' 2025-26 season.

Just a few months removed from making their first NBA Finals berth in 25 years, a lot has changed for the Pacers.

Losing a pair of starters can do that to you.

In the opening quarter of Game 7 of the Finals, two-time All-NBA Indiana point guard Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles tendon. The Pacers had been leading at the time, and managed to preserve that edge through the contest's first half.

It didn't quite last, and the Oklahoma City Thunder claimed their first championship since re-branding from their Seattle SuperSonics days.

But the Haliburton injury had a roster ripple effect. Indiana has already ruled the 6-foot-5 Iowa State product out for the entire season (although it has mechanisms it can access to bring him back, should he recover faster than anticipated).

Surprisingly, starting center Myles Turner agreed to a four-season, $108.9 million contract with the Milwaukee Bucks in free agency.

Indiana opted to trade for Memphis Grizzlies reserve center Jay Huff, and he'll compete for minutes with newly re-signed bigs Isaiah Hartenstein and James Wiseman, plus perhaps Tony Bradley, in training camp.

A Harsh Look at Indiana's Playoff Prospects

The Pacers have made the mere "First Round Fodder" tier in a new Eastern Conference playoff-ish team ranking from Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix. It's a pretty massive dip for a team that has made the last two Eastern Conference Finals, but makes sense with Haliburton and Turner gone.

"As painful as it was for Celtics fans to watch Tatum go down with an Achilles tear in the conference finals last season, it had to be doubly worse for Indiana, which was surging in Game 7 of the Finals before Haliburton’s Achilles snapped," Mannix writes.

"Adding insult to injury, Turner bolted for a division rival, leaving the Pacers without their two top stars. Indiana will still be feisty defensively, and I’m taking the over on whatever the line is on Bennedict Mathurin’s scoring average," Mannix notes. "But absorbing two major losses will be too much to overcome. It’s a brutal break for a small-market team that did everything right.

Mathurin is slated to join Indiana's starting backcourt next to guard Andrew Nembhard, who'll shift down a position to replace Haliburton as the Pacers' starting point guard.