Just when players started to get healthy again for the Indiana Pacers, another wave of injuries came and wiped the squad. Domantas Sabonis is back on the injury report, joining Myles Turner and leaving the Pacers with little depth in the frontcourt.
Turner is reportedly out indefinitely with an injury on his right foot with no set timetable for his return. Sabonis may not be out long but he was absent for the team’s ugly loss to the Spurs on Monday night. To make matters even worse, they lost yet another big man in that loss and the immediate future looks bleak.
Injuries continue to haunt the Indiana Pacers
Goga Bitadze, who has stepped up and played arguably the best basketball of his young career lately, left Monday’s loss with a sprained ankle, the same injury that sidelined Turner and Sabonis just days ago. If he misses time, the Pacers seriously might have no options at center and would be forced to play JaKarr Sampson in that role for significant minutes.
I know fans are wanting to “embrace the tank” and I get the sentiment, and this is pretty much the same result, but injuries will not constitute literal tanking in my opinion. If players start sitting for rest, then we will certainly have an argument. For now, the Pacers just have incredibly bad luck with injuries.
T.J. Warren and Myles Turner were expected to be the leaders of this team, Warren on offense and Turner on defense. While Turner has been that guy defensively for most of the year, he has struggled offensively and injuries have kept him out a handful of times now. Both of them may not return for the rest of the season.
Jeremy Lamb also continues to miss time with injuries of his own but at least the Pacers have options behind him. Aaron Holiday, Edmond Sumner, and Oshae Brissett have stepped up to replace Lamb when called upon.
The next month is going to be very uninteresting for the Pacers, but it will be a good chance for the young guys to showcase what they have and potentially earn a roster spot next season.
pro