The Pacers tip off preseason play with the return of Tyrese Haliburton in Ames, Iowa at Hali’s Iowa State home court at Hilton Coliseum. As you can see from a recent Pacers X post, the folks in Ames are ready for the spotlight with a sweet ‘Hali Cyclone’ t-shirt for a gold out.
Haliburton has already worked to make for a festive atmosphere by purchasing all available tickets for students to win in a lottery. Say whatever you want about Tyrese, but the man can sell!
Considering the circumstances, the first preseason question regarding the Pacers should be easy to answer. Tyrese Haliburton will no doubt play in their first preseason game and surely enjoy the warm embrace from the crowd in Ames. Around 12 to 16 minutes seems reasonable, as long as they are all with Ivica Zubac, but he’s hoping for a half. Regardless, Hali will probably take over arena MC duties once his work is done.
That should also covers the second question up for review: How will Hali and Zu look together on the court? The Fan Jam sneak peek was certainly promising so time to see it against another opponent.
Questions about Siakam, Nembhard and Nesmith don’t seem as pressing, although that starting five logging minutes together will be valuable for all involved and a pleasure to see on the floor. But those three guys are ‘wake me when the regular season tips’ type of guys with no concerns that they will be ready when it matters.
A healthy Obi Toppin and newly acquired Kelly Oubre Jr. hope to provide a reliable burst of excitement and more importantly, scoring off the bench. Oubre’s length is intriguing for a Pacers team that needs his size off the bench. He’s also accepted a reserve role while showing no intentions of playing like a reserve player. Hopefully, that mature outlook on where he is in his career and how he can still impact a winning team holds through 82 games and the playoffs.
Playoffs? Hell, yeah PLAYOFFS!
Gonna be a long 82 but basketball gods willing, we’ll get there.
Oubre reflected on his growth from a brash young player into a Swiss Army knife role players during media day. If his game has matured as much as his outlook, the Pacers may have a diamond in the rough. His career experience can also serve as a strong example for Jarace Walker.
Heading into his fourth season after just turning 23, Walker has not met his nor the Pacers initial expectations, but still flashes too much talent to not maintain hope he can put together a game to serve a reliable role in the Pacers rotation.
As Oubre realized after a few years, Walker may never be a guy with a primary role so he has to lean into that role as a Swiss Army knife player who can impact the game in a variety of ways depending on how a game is going. That is how you carve out additional years in the league and more importantly, lucrative contracts even if you aren’t a max player. There are worse jobs.
Walker needs to lean into that mindset and also consistently hunt plays at both ends of the floor. The flashes we have seen - putback dunks, quick threes, assists via sweet passes thru traffic and his signature reach steals on defense - are always a pleasure but often too few and far between. He can only expand the minutes he receives in the rotation by making those impact plays and minimizing the lapses between plays. Preseason is a great time to start that trend.
That seems like a lot for preseason game one, but considering it has been so long since there was juice for a Pacers game, the fans I hear from can’t get enough right now.
Both TJ McConnell and Quenton Jackson relinquished backup point guard duties to Braden Smith at Fan Jam on Sunday. Both were practicing on Thursday, but Rick Carlisle didn’t indicate who would be playing. I’d assume there is no hurry to play TJ with the regular rotation guys, so Smith may see some more burn than expected pending QJack’s status.
The Pacers face a Timberwolves team that has high expectations and at a minimum will be fun to watch all season. LaMelo Ball and Jonathan Kuminga join Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert to form an extremely long and athletic starting five. That group all played between 14 and 18 minutes in their first preseason game on Monday, so we’ll see if they all answer the bell for the tip in Ames.
Pacers vs. Timberwolves
Where: Hilton Coliseum, Ames, IA
When: Wednesday, October 7, 2026 - 7:00 p.m. ET
TV: DAZN/NBA TV
Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan
Odds: Pacers +1.5 (Please don’t wager on this game)
Projected Starters
Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, Ivica Zubac
Timberwolves: LaMelo Ball, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Jonathan Kuminga, Rudy Gobert
Injuries
Pacers: Johnny Furphy (knee) - out
Timberwolves: Donte DiVincenzo (Achilles) - out