Pacers notebook: A busy Wednesday (plus a few) in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, plus Tyrese Haliburton's injury

INDIANAPOLIS – October 28 projected to be an eventful day for the Pacers long before Wednesday actually arrived.

It was the Pacers second home game of the season, and their first on national television. LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers were in town. It was the team's final game before NBA Cup play began. Caitlin Clark was in the house.

Even for a normal regular season outing, there was quite a bit going on. And the day, plus the ensuing 48 hours, created much more news and buzz. It's all below.

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The Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever, up close

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Rick Carlisle shares news of his father's passing

Head coach Rick Carlisle sat down for his pregame press conference before battling the 76ers and wanted to thank the Pacers organization for something that happened a few weeks ago.

On October 3, near the end of the Pacers first week of training camp, Carlisle got a call from home and needed to leave practice early. His father, Preston, wasn't doing well and hadn't been for about a week and a half.

The Pacers head coach left things in the hands of assistant Lloyd Pierce and rushed up to Ogdensburg, New York to see his dad. Rick was able to be there on October 4 as his dad passed away at the age of 96.

"He was the greatest hero of my life," Carlisle said. There will be a memorial service today, so Pierce will coach the Pacers against the Miami Heat tonight.

"Preston C. Carlisle, an all-time great," Rick said.

I asked Rick if he had a special basketball-related memory with his dad. "The reason I'm here is because of him. He was a legendary rec player in northern New York State. He was known for physicality and hard fouls. I tagged along with him from when I was about seven years old until – he played rec ball until he was 55. He used to fight to get me in pickup games with the other adult guys in Ogdensburg. And it was a little ugly at times, but he knew that that's how young players got better, playing with older guys that were better."

Preston Carlisle passed the bar in the early 1960s, then opened a law firm in the historic Preston King Building in Ogdensburg, New York. That kicked off a 60-year legal career, which Rick admired. His dad "helped people who needed help."

You can read the obituary for Preston C Carlisle here.

Tyrese Haliburton's hamstring injury

As small as an injury felt after Carlisle shared that news, the head coach did pivot and share that Tyrese Haliburton has a mild left hamstring strain that will keep him sidelined for multiple weeks.

It is not realistic that Haliburton will return within the next two weeks.

"It is mild, but it is a hamstring. And so, we'll be cautious with it. It's not good news, but it could be worse," Carlisle said.

Haliburton didn't look quite right in Milwaukee on Monday. I asked him about it postgame, which you can watch below:

An update to Ben Sheppard's injury status

Remember this post about the Pacers injuries from earlier this week? My, how it has already changed.

Haliburton went down, Aaron Nesmith played a back-to-back on a 20 minute restriction thanks to his hamstring injury, and Obi Toppin hurt his hand in Milwaukee (more coming on him). Those are new ailments. Ben Sheppard's status requires an update too.

Initially, Sheppard was deemed to have a left meniscus tear that would keep him out multiple weeks. But things changed. After the Pacers played in Brooklyn on Sunday, Sheppard stayed in New York for surgery and now has a much longer recovery timeline.

The surgery was on Wednesday. "Once they got in there, it was a better situation than expected. Sometimes the film can look a little worse than what it was. So they did a full repair and he's expected to make a full recovery," Carlisle said of Sheppard's meniscus procedure.

While that operation does help Sheppard's long-term outlook with his knee, it means that he will be out for multiple months this season. That's bad news for the 2026-27 Pacers.

Obi Toppin's many injuries

Toppin was listed as probable for Pacers vs 76ers with a left hand sprain. He played through the injury without much issue and finished with 13 points plus six rebounds.

Postgame, Toppin was getting his hand wrapped. I checked in with him after he appeared to get hurt on one of the last possessions of the game – The Athletic's James Boyd was all over it with video.

Toppin said he's fine and that his foot just slammed into VJ Edgecombe's foot right before he jumped. You can see it happen if you slow down that video.

And another update – Friday afternoon, Toppin was downgraded to questionable for Pacers vs Heat with lower back soreness. The hits just keep coming.

Jaylen Brown talks rumors that he requested a trade

It would take a while to provide every update on this saga. Thankfully, Tony Jones of The Athletic did well here.

Anyway, I was in the 76ers locker room as star forward Jaylen Brown discussed a rumor that he requested a trade off of the Boston Celtics in the summer. Here's the answer:

Why all the hamstring injuries?

Haliburton, T.J. McConnell, Quenton Jackson, Larry Nance, and Nesmith have all dealt with a hamstring issue already this season. That's a lot of players dealing with the same thing.

I'll have a longer story in Forbes on this soon. Some thoughts from the Pacers, in part—

Rick Carlisle: "I think generally if you look at the league the last couple years, there have been quite a few (hamstring injuries) early in the season. The game is fast and not slowing down. There's a school of thought that summer training has to evolve to the way the game is played now."

Aaron Nesmith: "Teams are playing a lot harder and a lot faster. There's more possessions in our game now." Nesmith believes it's almost inevitable that hamstring issues will pop up.

Expect a lot of Andrew Nembhard

Haliburton and McConnell are both sidelined. Can Andrew Nembhard handle a massive role?

"Just understanding what we want to get into. Getting guys in the right spots," Nembhard said of his expectations going forward. He just returned from a neck injury. "I think a good amount of workload... think I'm going to have to be used a pretty good amount." He played 35 minutes against Philadelphia.

The Boom, starring T.J. McConnell and Johnny Furphy

I was at media day for the Noblesville Boom on Friday (more fun stuff to come from that!), and a big Boom story came hours later as both McConnell and Johnny Furphy were assigned to the Boom as they rehab from their injuries.

For McConnell, this provides practice time as he approaches a return from his right hamstring issue. There aren't many chances for practice with the Pacers right now. As I reported earlier this week, don't expect McConnell to be out too much longer.

Some were surprised to see Furphy get this assignment. There has been no change to his timeline, per sources, and he still has a ways to go before returning to game action. His torn ACL happened in early February. Furphy can do more rehab work with the Boom right now than the Pacers.

Thank you for reading. Pacers vs Heat, coming soon. Sign up for a story from that game, then more on everything going on in the land of the Pacers and Fever.