Pacers Lose Ben Sheppard for 'Months' in Brutal Early-Season Injury Update
Ben Sheppard (knee) will miss 'months, not weeks.' - Rick Carlisle
The phrase "months, not weeks" is the absolute last thing any basketball fan wants to hear from their head coach in October.
Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle dropped a brutal injury update on Wednesday, confirming that guard Ben Sheppard is dealing with a knee injury that will sideline him for the foreseeable future. To make matters worse, backup point guard and resident chaos agent TJ McConnell is still about a week away from returning from a hamstring issue.
Losing McConnell for another week is annoying, but survivable. He is the kind of guy who probably tries to rehab a hamstring by running full-court presses in his driveway. But the Sheppard news is a gut punch. When a coach explicitly says a player is out for months, you might as well start looking at the trade machine because that rotation spot is a crater until at least the new year.
The Pacers are sitting at 2-2 after a mixed bag of an opening week, most recently dropping a 110-102 game to the Milwaukee Bucks. Now they have to navigate the next stretch without two key rotation pieces who usually keep the energy up when the starters sit.
Indiana hosts the Philadelphia 76ers tonight before heading to for a Halloween matchup. Without McConnell pushing the pace on the second unit and Sheppard providing wing depth, Indiana is going to have to lean heavily on their starters. Bettors looking at Pacers totals might want to factor in a slightly thinner bench unit trying to survive those crucial non-Tyrese Haliburton minutes.