Indiana Pacers Hit Hard By Injury Bug With Trade Deadline Looming

The Indiana Pacers are being hit hard by injuries at the worst possible moment — right before the trade deadline.

Right now, teams around the league are making their final evaluations of players, both on their own team and on other teams, to determine if any trades or swaps need to be made. The Pacers are no exception, they have been involved in the trade scuttlebutt all season and currently sit at 17-30.

But things have been complicated for the team in the Circle City recently thanks to a quartet of injuries, many of which are to players who have been the subject of trade chatter around the league.

One of those injuries belongs to Myles Turner, who is nursing a stress reaction in his left foot. The team announced the injury last week.

The Pacers have struggled without the defensive stud and will continue to going forward. No timeline was announced for Turner’s return to action, but reporting suggests it will be a few weeks until the seven-year veteran can get back on the floor. Indiana has suffered without the big man anchoring their defense — they have conceded 116.8 points per 100 possessions in four games without him so far.

“In the last couple of games he’s just felt something,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said of Turner’s foot on January 16. Turner struggled in the few games leading up to that date, and the injury may be a reason why. “So we’re going to get it checked out.”

Just a few days after Turner’s diagnosis was announced, Indiana’s other interior threat, Domantas Sabonis, hurt his left ankle in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers. He landed awkwardly on a Lakers player while coming down with a rebound and rolled the ankle.

After the game, Carlisle called the injury “significant.” However, he provided more clarity on the possible return timing the next day. “No definitive time, but he’ll miss at least a few games I think,” the coach said.

Sabonis, as seen in the above video from James Boyd of the Indianapolis Star, was getting in some on-court work before the Pacers played on January 24. He could return sooner rather than later, though there should be no rush getting Sabonis back for the 13th place Indiana club. He should sit until he is 100% healthy.

Both of those big men have been the subject of trade rumors for the Pacers this season, though Turner’s name has been more prevalent in trade talks than Sabonis’. These injuries could, in theory, alter the trade value of both players since the receiving team will have to consider what the injury will mean for their new player going forward.

That said, it doesn’t seem as if either big will be out for an extended run, and the All-Star break — a good opportunity for rest and healing — is less than a month away. While the Pacers will be annoyed that these injuries could impact trade discussions, because the absence of both players won’t be long it is unlikely that either player will see their trade value impacted significantly.

On the bright side, Indiana now has the opportunity to give playing time to some of their younger big men. In the absence of Turner and Sabonis, Goga Bitadze and Isaiah Jackson have comprised the blue and gold’s rotation in the paint, and the pairing has filled in ably despite not getting many minutes earlier in the season.

“[Goga] is a very good all-around player at the five spot… his rebounding is a big factor. I love the way he feels the game,” Carlisle said of Bitadze, who averaged 12.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in the first four games Turner missed. “He can be a point center out there, he passes it well, he knows how to move versus switching. His screening is good… this is a great opportunity for him.”

Jackson, meanwhile, has impressed many with his defense and mobility. Carlisle has described these games as a good learning opportunity for the rookie big, who scored in double figures for the first time of his career against Golden State last Thursday. Once another center returns from injury, Jackson could lose his rotation spot, but he is making the most of his chances to play and giving the organization confidence that he can be a contributor in the future.

“For me personally it feels amazing to just step out there and play because at the end of the day I’m a hooper,” Jackson said after his 15-point performance. “Sitting on the sideline is all good, picking stuff up from the vets and stuff, but actually playing, being out there, is way funner.”

The Pacers having confidence in their young post players, who are both less than 23-years old, is critical. The team is well under .500 and may be headed for a rebuild — knowing that they have promising young talent sitting on the bench could make significant or risky trades easier to stomach.

The current injuries for the Pacers don’t stop on the interior. Starting point guard Malcolm Brogdon, the team’s top producer in assists and off-court leader, has been dealing with right Achilles soreness for about a month now. He has played just three games since December 15, and in two of those performances he received under 20 minutes of playing time. The soreness has been tough to overcome.

“Just being cautious, that’s what this is about, being cautious,” Brogdon said after a practice earlier this month. He is doing everything he can to avoid a ruptured Achilles. “It’s all about pain management. It’s all about it continuing to go in the right direction. You just don’t want days where you’re taking steps backwards.”

To continue moving in the right direction, the Pacers are shutting down Brogdon for at least 10 days, Carlisle detailed on January 22. Brogdon played three nights prior in a win over the Lakers, but had not been moving in the recovery direction that the Pacers wanted.

“Malcolm is going to shut down for 10 days at minimum to begin a program to aggressively rehab his Achilles situation,” Carlisle shared. “We haven’t made the progress that we need to make.”

Brogdon cannot be traded this season after receiving a contract extension prior to the campaign, so his injury has little bearing on the Pacers trade deadline plans. It does, however, allow the blue and gold to give more playing time to rookie guards Chris Duarte, Duane Washington, and Keifer Sykes, which has been beneficial so far as all three ball handlers have stepped up and played well in recent games.

Caris LeVert dealing with right calf soreness recently only added to the need for the three inexperienced guards, but LeVert returned to the lineup on Monday and played a normal minutes load. LeVert, like many Pacers, has been mentioned in trade discussions throughout the NBA, so his return to action gives Indiana a chance to showcase his skills ahead of the February 10 trade deadline. The six-year pro has averaged 24.5 points per game in his last 10 appearances.

Duarte, in particular, has blossomed in his expanded role. The rookie tied his career-high by scoring 27 points against the Warriors last week, and he is averaging nearly 16 points per game in the year 2022. The lottery pick is giving the Pacers a glimpse of their future as he will be a piece that Indiana builds around going forward.

“We are just hungry, you know. We got energy that we want to put out there and we’re just trying to win and play hard,” Duarte recently said of playing with his young teammates.

The Pacers have a lot at stake currently, and the trade deadline is just a few weeks away. Strong play from young players will certainly give the front office some confidence in the team’s direction, but ill-timed injuries could make deals, and winning, difficult. How Indiana brass navigates the coming weeks will be telling, and a combination of injuries will give the decision makers more factors to consider in roster-building discussions.