The Indiana Pacers have been one of the most efficient teams in the NBA in recent years, but that is not the case this season. Through their first seven games, they shot 40.7% from the field, which is the worst in the NBA.
For some context, they shot 48.8% from the field last season (third-best), and led the league shooting 50.7% from the field in 2023-24.
This Pacers offense thrives on pushing the tempo, catching defenses off guard and tiring them out, and moving the ball at a high rate. They are still doing these things (their 343.3 passes per game lead the league, according to NBA.com), but it's just not working. And it's no hard to see why.
The Pacers' offense looks completely different without Tyrese Haliburton
It's no secret that Indiana is navigating through this season with their star guard, Tyrese Haliburton.
The Wisconsin native tore his Achilles during the Pacers' Game 7 NBA Finals loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. And while it was always going to be a struggle for the team to make up for his absence, it's been even more difficult than everybody may have anticipated.
Haliburton is the engine that keeps Indiana's elite offense going. He is among the best at facilitating, passing, and playmaking. Not only can he do so much with such great efficiency (he is averaging 10.2 assists to just 2.1 turnovers during his three full seasons with the Pacers), but he also does it in a way that makes him nearly impossible to replicate.
The Pacers' offense is incredibly fast-paced. So much so that they can't just plug in anybody at point guard and expect it to work. Haliburton is perfect for their system because he can make quick reads and set his teammates up constantly, all while also being a legitimate scoring threat of his own (he averaged 19.7 points on 47.9% shooting from the field in three full seasons in Indiana).
Without him, the Pacers are going to struggle, and they have so far.
A lot more pressure will be on everybody else to step up and generate offense. Plus, not having the Iowa State alum on the court puts a lot more focus on everybody else, especially Pascal Siakam, which makes it a bit easier to guard them, even if their system is essentially the same.
It also doesn't help that the Pacers' injury report continues to grow by the day.
In addition to Haliburton, the Pacers are dealing with injuries to a ton of other key players. This includes Andrew Nembhard, Bennedict Mathurin, T.J. McConnell, and Obi Toppin, who are all sidelined just a couple of weeks into the regular season.
Because of this, Indiana is now forced to rely on a lot of other players who may or may not be ready for an expanded role, and it's showing.
Eventually, the Pacers' offense will return to form, and everything will be fine. Until then, though, they're going to continue to deal with the unfortunate reality that Haliburton is not walking through that door (for now, of course), and it might keep proving to be too much for them to handle in the meantime.