The Indiana Pacers should switch up the starting lineup

Aaron Holiday has struggled in his few starts this season for the Indiana Pacers.

T.J. Warren went down with an early-season injury, leaving the Indiana Pacers with a glaring hole in the starting lineup until he returns. With Jeremy Lamb also rehabbing from an injury, the Pacers have very limited depth on the wing and have been forced to stagger minutes by inserting Aaron Holiday into the starting unit.

Holiday, who has been a very solid role player for the Pacers in his young career, has really struggled to get things going when he’s with the starters this season. Aside from a strong showing against Cleveland on New Year’s Eve, Holiday is shooting just 16 for 43 from the field and six of 23 from beyond the arc.

I predicted Holiday would be a candidate for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award heading into this season, but that seems to be a bit of a distant thought in the early going. In Monday’s overtime win over the Pelicans, Aaron played just 20 minutes and had just three points. He was also a team-low -15 on the evening.

Aaron Holiday can still be a very good player and combo guard with the bench but his usage is not quite the same with the starting five. With three other ball-handlers in Malcolm Brogdon, Victor Oladipo, and Domantas Sabonis, Holiday is not afforded the opportunity to play his game as much as we expected prior to the season.

With the early season struggles holding him back a bit, the Pacers should strongly consider moving him back to the second unit with T.J. McConnell. Replacing him with his brother, Justin Holiday, is the move that makes the most sense. Justin played 45 minutes in the win over New Orleans, second on the team behind only Brogdon.

Justin is much better on the defensive end and is starting to knock down his shots. Adding him to the wing provides Indiana with size and two-way veteran talent that they desperately need. If there was ever a time to switch up the lineup, now is the time to do it.