In the coming season, Andrew Nembhard is going to have a lot of opportunity on his hands with Tyrese Haliburton out for the year. In having more freedom offensively, Nembhard will have the chance to show just how talented he really is, and reveal to the world what Indiana Pacers fans already know about him.
Nembhard's of course going to be assuming the role of the lead guard for Indiana this season. He's going to likely be seeing a relatively significant jump in minutes, touches and opportunities to create. We already saw Andrew's counting stats see an uptick this past season when Haliburton was unavailable, so we can expect to see that happen that much more over the course of the next six months.
The 2025 playoffs showed the world that Nembhard is a pressure performer, and someone that has the mental capacity to get the job done on the biggest stage against the best competition. His numbers went up in the playoffs as compared to the regular season, just as they did in the previous season. Andrew is a playoff riser. Now, it's just going to be about sustaining that kind of output over the course of an 82-game regular season.
With Haliburton out, Nembhard can be an All-Star
Really, Nembhard's going to be exactly what Indiana needs in this coming season. The Pacers' offense is going to require a guard that can get his own off the dribble, make plays for others and lock in defensively. Andrew offers all of those things, and the fact that the rest of the roster remains mostly unchanged will give him the perfect setting to thrive without having to learn a bunch of new teammates and their tendencies.
It seems that the fanbase and analysts alike are already understanding that he's going to be one of the central pieces for the Pacers this season. This team is still in a great position to outperform the expectations and end up winning more games than expected. Nembhard taking things to the next level is going to play a major part in them getting there.
The opportunity is clearly going to be there for many more touches and opportunities to be more aggressive with the ball in his hands this season for Andrew Nembhard. He's got the chance to reach a new echelon and potentially enter the conversation for an All-Star nomination, or even greater accolades than that. If he's producing at a high level and the Pacers are winning games, the national media will have no choice but to give him his recognition.