Tyrese Haliburton Is Back. The Pacers' Bench Is Still the Story.

Tyrese Haliburton will be on the floor when the 2026-27 season begins, and he is apparently less than thrilled about where the NBA has asked him to do it.

The Pacers open on the road against the New Orleans Pelicans on Oct. 21, a matchup that drew an eyebrow-raise from Haliburton himself, who told reporters he was "shocked" by the opening-night assignment. When you've spent a year rehabbing a torn right Achilles — suffered in the first quarter of Game 7 of the 2025 Finals against Oklahoma City — and your reward is a Wednesday night in New Orleans rather than a marquee slot, the reaction is understandable.

But the more important question for Indiana isn't the opponent. It's the eight or nine guys behind Haliburton.

A year of waiting, and a 19-63 receipt

The Pacers have the receipts from their gap year. Indiana went 19-63 in 2025-26, scoring 112.4 points per game while giving up 120.4 — a minus-8.0 point differential that was never going to be survivable without a top-five offense running the show. Haliburton's absence was the whole explanation, but the season still exposed what Indiana looks like when its engine isn't available.

Haliburton's own track record as a starter makes the baseline obvious: 18.2 points, 9.3 assists, and a 60.7% true shooting mark across 333 career starts, with a positive plus-minus. That player alone is worth several wins of improvement. The question is how many.

Some help arrived before the injury return. Indiana landed Ivica Zubac from the Clippers at the February deadline after general manager Chad Buchanan called the veteran center the team's "number one clear target," citing fit, age, and production. Zubac solves a starting-center hole the Pacers had been patching since Myles Turner left for Milwaukee in free agency.

The starting five isn't the problem

By any reasonable read of the roster, Indiana's first unit can hang with Philadelphia, Cleveland, New York, and the rest of the East's upper tier. The depth behind it is where the season gets uncomfortable — and it's a concern the team's own offseason coverage has flagged repeatedly, with one depth-chart breakdown noting Indiana has "none of the depth it needs to avoid a repeat of 2025-26."

The Pacers let Bennedict Mathurin go, thinning the bench creation options further, and they added Larry Nance Jr. in free agency primarily for veteran leadership. That signing has already generated internal debate about whether Indiana targeted the right locker-room voice — a sign that the margins of this roster are being scrutinized closely.

Ben Sheppard is the swing piece. If he makes a real jump, Indiana has a functional wing rotation. If he doesn't, the Pacers are leaning heavily on Haliburton to carry minutes that should belong to a second unit.

What the market and the schedule say

The futures market is pricing a dramatic turnaround: a 44.5 win total with the over slightly favored, and championship odds around 6,600 — mid-pack in the league, well behind Oklahoma City and San Antonio, and in the same neighborhood as Atlanta and Golden State. That's a market that believes in the starting five and is hedging on everything else.

The schedule gives Indiana room to find out early. The preseason opens Oct. 7 at home against Minnesota, followed by a trip to Oklahoma City on Oct. 14 and a home exhibition against Milwaukee on Oct. 16. Once things count, the Pacers get Dallas at home on Oct. 23, then a November stretch that includes the Knicks at home on Nov. 14 and a trip to Cleveland on Nov. 21 — the kind of games that will tell you whether this is a 44-win team or a 50-win one.

Haliburton's return restores the ceiling. The bench determines whether Indiana actually reaches it.