Ivica Zubac goes down as injuries mount for the Pacers: The latest
The Pacers are banged up again.
INDIANAPOLIS – Remember 2025-26? When the Pacers were so banged up to start the season that they signed Jeremiah Robinson-Earl to a hardship contract on November 1?
That was a challenge for the Pacers. And they're approaching that level of difficulty now as Ivica Zubac went down with an ankle injury in the Pacers win over the Nets on Sunday night. Zubac was ruled out for the rest of the game in the second half, joining Ben Sheppard, T.J. McConnell, and Johny Furphy on the shelf.
Things will be different for the current Pacers on the hardship front. Among many rules that make a hardship contract impossible for this year's team: You have to have 15 players signed to a standard contract to add a player via the hardship exception. The Pacers, thanks to their hard cap situation, have 14. (They'd also have to have Zubac and Sheppard miss more games, plus have those two and McConnell be out for much longer, to be eligible anyway).
So don't focus on that despite the Pacers mounting injuries. Here's the latest on their health.
Tony East
Ivica Zubac's sprained left ankle
Zubac was ruled out with a left ankle sprain on Sunday night. It's the same left ankle that caused him to miss time with both the LA Clippers and the Pacers last season.
Zubac landed on Kelly Oubre's foot while both players chased a rebound. He tried to fight through it before going to the locker room a few moments later. While it's too early for a timeline just yet, head coach Rick Calrisle shared the following postgame:
"X-rays were negative for a fracture. He's got some swelling. Pretty unlikely he'll play tomorrow night, but we'll see. Hopefully it'll be a day-to-day thing, but you never know. Maybe he'll feel a lot better in the morning. It's hard to say. I think it's probably unlikely. But I talked to him after the game and he said, 'I'll be alright'. He had one of these last year and he missed a little bit of time. And we actually sat him a pretty significant amount of time when we traded for him to make sure that he was completely 100% healthy. So I'm not sure if it's the same ankle or not. Hopefully it's not going to be too bad."
Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported that Zubac left the arena on crutches.
T.J. McConnell's right hamstring
McConnell has a right hamstring strain and has yet to play in a game, preseason or regular season, so far. If Larry Nance's suggestion that he and McConnell were ships passing in the night is correct, that would mean that McConnell's injury happened very early in training camp.
My sense: That is correct, and McConnell won't be out for too much longer. But the conservative approach makes the most sense here for the Pacers given how much season is left and McConnell's age.
Ben Sheppard's left meniscus
Sheppard suffered a left meniscus tear in the Pacers season opener against the New Orleans Pelicans and will miss multiple weeks, Carlisle said before the Pacers home opener.
Meniscus injuries come with a wide range of recovery strategies. That also adds a lot of variance into absence times. Surgery is not a requirement, though no clarity on that front has been provided with Sheppard.
"Ben Sheppard is going to be out for a little bit. He's got a left knee meniscus thing that happened in the New Orleans games. Uncertain of the timetable," Carlisle said last week. "Possibility it may not be too long, but we're not really certain right at this point. But there's a chance he could be back in a couple weeks, or maybe longer. Uncertain at this point."
A follow up question: Is two weeks or so a reasonable timetable? "That's what it sounds like," Carlisle said. That was on Friday, October 23.
Johnny Furphy's right ACL
Furphy is still out, though he's been visible doing some shooting after Pacers practices and is moving fairly well. He seems to be in great spirits.
As for a timetable, the most recent update comes from assistant general manager Ted Wu. "Johnny's done everything he needs to do and he's hit all the benchmarks and the bars. He's been in a lot. Updates from the medical staff, I don't think anything has changed since we've last talked about Johnny's progress, but it's all been extremely positive. He looks great," Wu began.
"Timeline-wise, I think the original timeline, sometime in the middle of the year. I don't want to put a date on it, on it, but, confident in his rehab coming along well," he added.
There is good health news
Tonight, the Pacers play in Milwaukee. It will conclude their first back-to-back of the season.
Tyrese Haliburton told Jeremiah Johnson during an interview on the DAZN broadcast Sunday night that he will play against the Bucks. It's a significant game in that it's his first back-to-back since his return from a torn achilles. His minutes, and effectiveness, will be worth monitoring.
Thank you for reading. I'm headed to Milwaukee for Pacers-Bucks. Sign up for stories from that game.
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