INDIANAPOLIS — Pacers starting point guard Andrew Nembhard will miss Saturday’s game against the Grizzlies in Memphis with a left shoulder strain according to the injury report the Pacers posted on their social media accounts. His timeline for return is not immediately clear.

Nembhard suffered the injury in the first half of Thursday’s season opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder, apparently when he was trying to guard MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and got his left arm hooked into Gilgeous-Alexander’s right arm. He posted four points and four assists in 16:52 in the first half but didn’t take the floor for the second half and was ruled out for the game shortly after. The Pacers eventually lost 141-135 in double overtime.

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle didn’t have a diagnosis for the injury after the game that acknowledged that Nembhard missing any time could cause problems for a team that has already taken devastating hits to its point guard depth.

“This thing with ‘Drew’s shoulder, we’ll find out more (Friday),” Carlisle said. “He’s gonna get some tests done. But this is gonna potentially present some big challenges.”

The Pacers arguably had the best point guard depth in the NBA last season, which was a big part of the reason they reached the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000. However, All-Star Tyrese Haliburton tore his right Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the Finals and will miss the entire season. Nembhard, was starting next to him at shooting guard to provide a secondary ball-handler in the starting lineup to allow Haliburton to escape double teams, but he is a point guard by trade. The Pacers moved Nembhard to the starting role at point guard, brought back veteran backup T.J. McConnell and then signed Delon Wright to give them a third veteran option.

However, McConnell suffered a strained left hamstring in the preseason’s first game that will keep him out until at least Nov. 9 and Wright suffered a head injury in a nasty collision with Minnesota’s Jaylen Clark and was waived the next day. The Pacers then signed 10-year veteran Cameron Payne but he didn’t work out and the Pacers waived him days before the cutdown deadline, leaving Nembhard as the only healthy point guard on a standard contract heading into the start of the season.

Now with Nembhard out, the Pacers lose one of their best facilitators, clutch players and perimeter defenders. The 2022 second round pick out of Gonzaga averaged a career high 10.0 points and 5.0 assists per game last season as well as a career-high 1.2 steals per game last season. The Pacers used him as the primary defender on some of the best guards in the league and he was named the Eastern Conference Defensive Player of the Month in January. In the playoffs, he averaged 12.5 points, 4.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game. After shooting just 29.1% from 3-point range in the regular season, he made 46.5% of his 3-point attempts in the playoffs.

The Pacers used guard Ben Sheppard at the point to start the second half. The 6-6, 190-pounder has mostly been used as a shooting guard and small forward but he played some point guard in college at Belmont where he averaged 2.9 assists per game as a senior. They’ve also been using rookie two-way contract guard Taelon Peter at point guard, though the No. 54 overall pick out of Liberty had never played point guard before preseason. Second year two-way contract player RayJ Dennis is actually the most natural point guard on the roster and is also an option. Two-way contract guard Quenton Jackson could play the position, but he’s also out with a sore right hamstring.

Haliburton, McConnell, rookie guard Kam Jones, Jackson and Nembhard are all listed as out on the injury report. Forward Johnny Furphy is listed as questionable with a sore left foot.

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