Rick Carlisle told one key Indiana Pacers player that he will get a starting role on the team next season!
The Indiana Pacers are set to have a difficult 2025-26 NBA campaign. After a miraculous run to the 2025 NBA Finals, the Pacers received two massive blows to their roster in succession.
In Game 7 of the NBA Finals, Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles tendon. This injury would be the nail in the Pacers’ coffin, as the OKC Thunder took advantage and closed out the game to win the NBA championship.
If losing Haliburton for the entirety of the 2025-26 NBA season wasn’t bad enough, things got worse from there.
Myles Turner left the Pacers to join the Milwaukee Bucks in free agency. It’s bad enough losing one of your key players, but to see him join your rivals is a truly disappointing situation.
The Pacers will regret losing Turner over a few million dollars. But with these major roster changes, one young Pacers star is set to get a starting role on the team.
Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty ImagesRick Carlisle tells Bennedict Mathurin he will start next season
Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle spoke in an interview with Caitlin Cooper recently.
During the interview, he broke the news to Bennedict Mathurin and the rest of the world that he would be a starter next season.
“I’m going to break the news right here, I’m projecting him as our starter at two this year on day one, and I’ve told him, I told him this.
“I was on the phone with him and his agent four days ago, and I said, ‘You’re going to be with the starters on day one. It’s your job to lose, but here’s what we need from you.’
“‘We need you to keep working on the running, and simply running to the corners and stretching out the defense!’
“Ben Mathurin probably gets more open corner threes than anybody on our team simply because he’s a soldier, about getting to the corners.”
Indiana Pacers must develop young stars during this formative season
With Tyrese Haliburton’s injury and Myles Turner’s departure, it’s safe to say that the Pacers will not be competing for the NBA championship next season.
If anything, this could be a huge positive for them. With one full year of low expectations, Carlisle can tinker with the roster and help develop their young talent even more.
Players like Bennedict Mathurin could grow into a starting role full-time if they get the right opportunities. And with the Pacers not competing at a high level, there is very little pressure on him to impact winning.
Much like a team in Year 1 or 2 of a rebuild, the Pacers can focus on individual performances and improvements rather than putting wins together and making a playoff run.
And if they do things the right way, the Pacers could have a strong roster of young stars who can contribute to winning when Tyrese Haliburton makes his return in 2026.