Jun 22, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle looks on during the second half of game seven of the 2025 NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Pacers’ Rick Carlisle Makes Shocking Admission About This Year’s Roster

Originally posted on Indianapolis Pacers on SI
By Alex Kirschenbaum | Last updated Aug 9, 2025 11:00 AM ET

Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle has made a bold admission about the team's 2025-26 roster.

After losing two-time All-NBA point guard Tyrese Haliburton to an Achilles tendon tear incurred in Game 7 of the NBA Finals and 3-and-D center Myles Turner to free agency, Indiana has to reconfigure its roster amid diminished expectations next year.

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How exactly Indiana intends to move forward short-term without these two critical contributors remains to be seen. 2024-25 starting two-guard Andrew Nembhard will replace Haliburton at the point, while Carlisle recently told Basketball, She Wrote's Caitlin Cooper that sixth man wing Bennedict Mathurin will get first dibs at Nembhard's old job.

Carlisle would not, however, tip his hat about the team's plans for a Turner replacement at the five spot. In an earlier interview this summer, Pacers GM Chad Buchanan noted that the team expects current centers Isaiah Jackson, James Wiseman and Jay Huff all to compete for the gig.

Carlisle also acknowledged a painful truth about the Pacers' next chapter elsewhere in his interview with Cooper.

"There are many challenges, and we're talking about this right now organizationally, from a roster construction standpoint for this season," Carlisle told Cooper. "Our game this year is gonna look different. There's gonna be times when it doesn't look pretty. I think we're going to be a more physical defensive team, all those kinds of things. Things are going to change."

Carlisle broke down how Indiana would transform during a "gap year" season without its best player, Haliburton, who has already been ruled out for the entire season. The emphasis on defense and physicality makes sense, with Indiana's top distributor hurt.

"Our fans are going to be in for an interesting year. It's gonna be a team that looks quite different," Carlisle noted.

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"[Andrew] is going to have to adjust some. He's gonna have to maintain his aggression defensively because he loves to defend," Carlisle said. "Pascal [Siakam] is now gonna become a primary ball handler. You think of the other guys, you know, we'll see who starts at center."

Three-time All-Star Pacers power forward Siakam getting significantly more touches as a passer and creator is a fascinating wrinkle. Siakam has experimented with that role on the Toronto Raptors before, but even then he has been a supplemental ball handler. It's unclear just how much of Haliburton's former burden Siakam will shoulder relative to Nembhard and, say, Mathurin.