Pacers resume play with first of two against Wizards to begin a weird close to to the season
The remainder of the season for the Pacers will be strange, with the latest injury reports drawing more attention than the box scores.
The Pacers play the first of their remaining 27 games on Thursday night against the Wizards in D.C. in a game that will be notable for the amount of star power off the court, not on.
This will be the first Pacers game since the NBA levied a $100,000 fine for sitting Pascal Siakam against the Jazz earlier in February. While it appeared the Pacers and Jazz were the only cars pulled over on I-465 when everyone was doing over 80, the fine didn’t appear to scare the Pacers straight. Siakam will not be playing against the Wiz due to personal reasons, chief among those a return from All-Star weekend and back-to-back games.
Oh, there are other circumstances, as well. The elbows are out with the bottom six teams in the league, seeking prime spots among the bottom three for the NBA draft lottery. The pre-All-Star fine didn’t serve as a deterrent to the big picture for those teams, as Adam Silver spoke about the issue at the break with an eye toward the future. It is simply too late to change the game this season.
So…we have Pacers injury report loaded with players including TJ McConnell and Aaron Nesmith as questionable while Siakam and Ivica Zubac are out. But the Wizards injury report is loaded with talent, as well. Anthony Davis out with what was described earlier his week as a hand/groin injury which had me wondering what his rehab would be for the rest of the season. Trae Young is out. Alex Sarr is out. Cam Whitmore is out. D’Angelo Russell likely not even showing up for rest of the season.
The tanking toothpaste is out of the tube and covering the NBA counter at this point, so NOT beating these teams will be a challenge for the Pacers regardless of how many sit games. They may have to start staggering the minor injury issues. The Kings just shut down Domas Sabonis and Zach LaVine in the midst of their 14-game losing streak to take a solid “lead” in the race to the bottom.
Rick Carlisle talked around the situation quite well, as usual, leaning into the development benefits for the rest of the season, which includes veteran players continuing to grow their games. He did not address the fine during media availability but the team released a statement from Carlisle on the fine with the following quote.
"I'm so proud of the way that our players, organization and fans have approached an extraordinarily challenging season. We have been very consistent with how we have approached everything this year and the NBA is aware of that. Communication with the league office has been productive. We will move forward with the same emphasis on competitiveness and development that I talked about on media day September 29th 2025."
The Pacers schedule has them playing the back-to-back in D.C. and then back home for their next four starting against the Mavs on Sunday (third game in four days). At least we’ll have some basketball to talk about, and players to continue monitoring with an eye on development. While the box score may not be as important, tracking those players on the court should be a little more entertaining than tracking the injury report updates.
Pacers vs. Wizards
Where: Capital One Arena, Washington, DC
When: Thursday, February 19, 2026 - 7:00 p.m. ET
TV: FanDuel Sports Network
Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan
Odds: Pacers -2.5
Projected Starters
Pacers: Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Kobe Brown, Jarace Walker, Jay Huff
Wizards: Bub Carrington, Tre Johnson, Kyshawn George, Bilal Coulibaly, Tristan Vukcevic
Injuries
Pacers: T.J. McConnell (hammy) - questionable, Aaron Nesmith (lumbar) - questionable, Micah Potter (ankle) - questionable, Pascal Siakam (personal reasons) - out, Ivica Zubac (ankle) - out, Johnny Furphy (knee) - out, Obi Toppin (hammy) - out, Tyrese Haliburton (Achilles) - out
Wizards: Alex Sarr (hamstring) - out, Anthony Davis (hand/groin) - out, Trae Young (knee) - out, Cam Whitmore (venous) - out, D’Angelo Russell (not with team) - out