Rick Carlisle told one key Indiana Pacers player he will play a starting role with the team next season!
The Indiana Pacers are set to host a challenging 2025-26 NBA campaign. After a miraculous run in the 2025 NBA Finals, the Pacers were hit hard twice in a row on the roster.
In Game 7 of the NBA Finals, Tyrese Halliburton tore his Achilles tendon. The injury becomes the Pacers’ co-claw as OKC Thunder took advantage of it and closed the game to win the NBA championship.
If we lost Halliburton throughout the entire NBA season, things got worse from there.
Miles Turner left the Pacers and joined the Milwaukee Bucks in free agency. Losing one of your key players is bad enough, but it’s a truly unfortunate situation to see him join your rival.
The Pacers will regret losing Turner for millions of dollars. However, these major roster changes have set one young pacer star to play the role that started with the team.
Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle recently spoke in an interview with Kate Linkoper.
During the interview, he broke the news to Benedict Matlin and the rest of the world that he will be the starter next season.
“I’m going to break the news here. I’m projecting him as two starters on the first day of the year. I told him I told him.
“I had called him and his agent four days ago. “You’re going to be with the starter on the first day. It’s your job to lose, but here’s what we need.”
“You just need to keep working on running, just run to the corners and increase your defense!”
“Ben Matlin has earned a corner three that is more open than anyone on our team about going to the corner, probably just because he’s a soldier.”
With Tyrese Haliburton’s injury and the departure of Myles Turner, it’s safe to say the Pacers won’t compete in the NBA Championship next season.
If anything, this could be a huge positive for them. With a low year’s expectations, Carlisle can tinker with the roster and help develop more young talent.
Players like Bennedict Mathurin could potentially grow into a full-time start role if they get the right opportunity. And there’s little pressure to influence him to win, as the Pacers aren’t competing at a high level.
Just like teams in their first or second year of rebuilding, Pacers can focus on individual performance and improvement rather than collecting victory and playing playoff runs.
And if they do things the right way, the Pacers could have had a strong roster of young stars who could help win when Tylese Halliburton returns in 2026.