When this coming season tips off, Indiana Pacers fans are likely going to be seeing Andrew Nembhard get increased opportunity and take on the duties of a lead point guard.
Why wouldn't that be the wish of any ball-handling guard? To be the starting point guard of an NBA team, where it's your duty to lead the offense and head up your team's approach? That's the kind of thing you dream about while playing ball in the park as a kid.
Ever since he was drafted back in 2022, Nembhard has been seen as the next man up behind Tyrese Haliburton. And truly, he's shown a lot of progression from his first to his third season already. Now, with Hali set to miss the entire year in 2025-26, it's the perfect time for Andrew to step up and show what he's made of.
In past instances where he was called on to fill in for Tyrese, Nembhard already showed out. He plays defense at a very high level, and when he's got the ball in his hands he's become a very dangerous creator.
Andrew Nembhard has a massive opportunity on his hands this season
There's no greater example of this than in Game 1 of the NBA Finals this past June. With a little over two minutes left in the fourth quarter and Indiana down by six on the road, Nembhard found himself matched up with the MVP and his former Olympic teammate, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
What proceeded to follow would become one of the top highlights of the entire Finals series as Andrew put a series of dribble moves on SGA, crossed over and stepped back for a wild three-pointer that brought the Pacers within one possession.
It felt like in that one possession, Andrew Nembhard went from an underrated guy that only Pacers fans knew and loved to a near-household name in NBA fans' circles. All over social media, people were calling him the greatest 9.6 career points per game player they had ever seen in their lives.
Now, Nembhard will have all the opportunity he ever wanted in this coming season. Perhaps the best-case scenario for this upcoming year for the Pacers is the world in which Andrew embraces this role to the point that he becomes a borderline All-Star type of talent.
I think Pacers fans know what kind of passing chops, defensive versatility and scoring ability Nembhard brings to the table. It's going to be easy for this fanbase to hang their hands and think of 2025-26 as a lost season before it even begins, but Nembhard might just do a lot to change that narrative before things are all said and done.