1. The Shooting Drought of 2025
The most staggering regression for Indiana has been their absolute collapse from beyond the arc. Just a year ago, the Pacers’ offense was built on spacing and lethal shooting. Today, they are statistically the worst shooting team in modern NBA history.
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League-Worst 3P%: The Pacers are currently shooting just 29.9% from three-point range. To put that in perspective, this is the lowest team percentage since the infamous 7-59 Charlotte Bobcats in 2012.
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Overall Inefficiency: Their field goal percentage has plummeted to 40.2%, also the lowest in the league.
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Offensive Rating: Indiana currently ranks 30th out of 30 teams in Offensive Efficiency ($108.7$).
2. The Haliburton Void
While the system is designed to be “plug and play,” the absence of Tyrese Haliburton has proven that he was the only engine capable of sustaining this pace. Without his 10+ assists per game and gravity as a pull-up threat, the Pacers have become “tactical but stagnant.”
Andrew Nembhard and Bennedict Mathurin have been thrust into primary roles, but neither possesses the “generational maestro” ability to manipulate defenses that Haliburton provided. The result is a more deliberate, grinding half-court attack that plays right into the hands of elite defenses like the Celtics and Bucks.
3. Star Regression: The Siakam Struggle
Perhaps the most concerning aspect of this slip is that it isn’t just the bench players struggling. Pascal Siakam, who was a cornerstone of the Finals run, is shooting over 5% worse from the field this season.
Coach Rick Carlisle has admitted that “the pieces are different,” and the lack of floor spacing previously provided by Myles Turner has allowed opponents to pack the paint against Siakam, forcing him into contested mid-range jumpers rather than the high-percentage looks he thrived on in 2024.
The “Transition” Trap
The Pacers’ identity was previously defined by being the hunters in transition. Last season, they ranked in the top 5 for both transition frequency and efficiency. This year, the transition game has become a double-edged sword:
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The Admission: Rick Carlisle recently noted that the team’s defense “starts with the shot that you take.” Because the Pacers are missing so many shots (nearly 60% of their attempts), they are constantly defending against long-rebound fast breaks.
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Transition Defense: Indiana is giving up a league-high number of points in transition. By crashing the glass harder to compensate for poor shooting (they currently rank in the top 10 in rebounding), they are leaving themselves exposed on the back end.
The Road Ahead
With 16 of their next 19 games against top-16 teams, the Pacers are at a crossroads. Rick Carlisle remains stuck at 999 career wins, a milestone that has eluded him during this five-game losing streak. If Indiana cannot rediscover even a league-average level of shooting, the “gap year” could turn into a multi-year rebuild.
The admission from the coaching staff is clear: you cannot win in the modern NBA without making shots. For the Pacers, the area they can least afford to regress in—their scoring punch—has vanished, leaving them as a blue-collar team without the tools to finish the job.
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