Indiana Pacers Begin Shutting Down Veterans As Season Nears End

The Indiana Pacers are out of the 2021-22 playoff hunt. With just five games to go in a dissapointing season, the team is focused more on developing young talent and experiementing with new strategies than they are on grabbing wins.

“We’re coaching to develop our team,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said one month ago. “To see what we have in some of these young guys that we’re still familiarizing ourselves with.”

That mindset has led to an uptick in minutes for younger players in recent games. Third-year center Goga Bitadze had just eigth games during his first two seasons in which he played more than 20 minutes. Since the February All-Star game, he has nine. Second year big man Jalen Smith has played more minutes since the All-Star break (385) than he did during his first 54 games of the season with Pheonix (382). Rookies Duane Washington Jr and Terry Taylor are getting rotation minutes every night. The Pacers are all in on developing young talent.

“We’re learning about all of these guys,” Carlisle shared.

Younger players getting a bump in playing time means that veterans have to sit and watch. For the Pacers, though, that isn’t really an issue — several of the team’s oldest players have been injured for much of the season and have been sitting on the bench often anyway.

Some of those players could have returned from injury for the blue and gold down the stretch of this season. But with the postseason beyond reach and youth taking center stage, the Pacers are opting to rule out some veterans for the season instead of having them potentially play in the team’s final few games.

The first Pacer to be ruled out for the season was wing T.J. Warren, who hasn’t played in a game since December of 2020. He has been dealing with stress fractures in his left foot and was determined to be healing “not at the pace previously anticipated,” back in Septemeber of 2021. While Warren’s length of absence is extreme and leads to some questions, foot injuries can be fickle, so Indiana and Warren agreed to sit Warren out for the rest of the season despite him doing more on court work of late.

“After thoughtful conversation with T.J. and his representatives, it has been determined that the most beneficial course of action at this point is to allow him to focus on the 2022-23 season,” Indiana President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard said.

Warren has played a grand total of 117 minutes over the past two seasons combined and is entering free agency this offseason. It may have been beneficial for Warren to showcase his skills for a game or two to end the season, but there wasn’t enough time for that to take place.

“We’d love to have him back. That was one of the reasons we had hoped that he could get healthy and get on the court at the end of the year,” Carlisle stated. He shared that Warren had been doing some 5-on-5 work in practice, but there just wasn’t enough time left for the 28-year old to return this season. “The timetable is just not there. The hourglass on this season has just gotten too short,” he shared.

11 days after Warren was shut down for the campaign, the Pacers confirmed that center Myles Turner would not play again this season. Like Warren, he is dealing with a foot injury — a stress reaction in his left foot. Unlike Warren, though, Turner was able to suit up for games this season. He averaged 12.9 points and 7.1 rebounds per game in 42 games before being sidelined on January 14.

Turner was having a strong season before his foot began bothering him. After 30 games, the defensive anchor was shooting 51.4% from the field and 36.4% from deep while blocking nearly three shots per game, an impressive combination of numbers. His stats declined over his final 12 appearances, including a weak final game of the campaign in which Turner scored just five points and shot 2/9 from the field.

Turner is under contract next season, and should he make it through the offseason without being traded, he could be a strong fit with new franchise centerpiece Tyrese Haliburton. It would have been great if the Pacers could have seen those two together this season, but it made more sense for both parties if Turner didn’t play again this year.

“It’s been very dificult for him not to be out there.” Carlisle shared of Turner. He explained that, like with Warren, a big factor in shutting down the big man is that there isn’t much time left in the season. Turner may have been able to play in the Pacers final couple of games, Carlisle conceded, but that would have little value to a Pacers team out of the playoff hunt and prioritizng minutes for younger players.

“After numerous conversations with our medical team, Myles, and his representatives, it became clear to everyone that despite Myles’ continued progress and positive diagnosis, there simply is not enough time remaining in the season to properly and safely prepare him for the demanding workload associated with an NBA game,” Pritchard explained.

The natural thought after learning that the Pacers shut down two veterans is to wonder if they will do it with other players. Guard Ricky Rubio already won’t play for the rest of the season thanks to a torn ACL, but Malcolm Brogdon has missed the last six games due to rest/conditioning while T.J. McConnell hasn’t played since early December thanks to a torn ligament in his wrist. It’s fair to wonder if the Pacers should shut down those two players as well.

With Brogdon, the Pacers are taking a cautious approach to his health. He has missed time with a variety of injuries throughout his career, and he is questionable to play in the Pacers upcoming game in Boston thanks to a sore back. While he could return at some point this campaign, the Pacers want to make sure Brogdon continues to remain healthy long-term.

“That’s the goal, to have him keep feeling good,” Carlisle said of the ball handler on March 23. He shared that Brogdon did an aggressive workout earlier that day. The 29-year old guard has averaged 21 points per game since the All-Star break, but with the blue and gold putting an emphasis on development down the stretch of the season, it’s logical to wonder if Brogdon has played his last game of the year. The Pacers already have an eight-game sample of how the Virginia guard fits with the team’s new core. “He’s working hard through this period, it’s not like he’s just sitting out,” Carlisle added.

With McConnell, he continues to progress after his wrist surgery four months ago. He has been doing on court work with Indiana assistant coach Jenny Boucek, and Carlisle wouldn’t rule out a return for the pesky guard this season.

“It’s not off the table,” the coach detailed. “It’s possible that he could get in a few games at the end.”

Evaluating how McConnell fits with the new-look group may have some value to the franchise, and the 30-year old hates to miss games. It is possible that the seven-year veteran returns at some point in the Pacers last five game.

But with both Brogdon and McConnell, the best course of action may be to shut them down for the remainder of the season. The Pacers are better off securing the best possible draft lottery positioning at this point in the year rather than chasing wins, and allowing young players to showcase their skills is valuable for a rebuilding team. Playing veterans doesn’t help accmoplish either of the goals, and it may be best if the blue and gold decide not to play either guard in the final five games.

The Pacers, as a franchise, are rarely in a situation where wins aren’t as important. This is the worst season, record wise, that the organization has seen since the 1980s. While this is uncharted territory for everyone involved, the Pacers have smartly not pushed their recovering veterans to play in games that won’t change the fortunes of the franchise. With McConnell and Brogdon, it may be time to do the same.