Obi Toppin speaks at his basketball camp at Gainbridge Fieldhouse
Obi Toppin held a basketball camp for young players at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday.
INDIANAPOLIS — Forward Obi Toppin heads toward the 2025-26 season knowing he has to be ready for anything.
The Pacers have high standards now after reaching the NBA Finals for the first time in 25 years, but they’ll be trying to meet those standards without All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton or 10-year stalwart center Myles Turner. Haliburton tore his Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the NBA Finals in the Pacers’ loss to the Thunder and Turner left for the Milwaukee Bucks in free agency.
Without them the Pacers will have to adapt but will still be trying to follow the same blueprint that got them to the Eastern Conference Finals each of the last two seasons. Haliburton has been the engine for their revival over the past three seasons, earning two All-Star nods and two third-team All-NBA selections, but he’s already been ruled out for the season as he recovers.
“Ty brings so much to the team and it’s not hidden, everybody understands what he brings to the game,” Toppin said Saturday morning at his CareSource basketball camp for players between third and eighth grade at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. “So it’s just something that everybody on the team has to do while we’re out there, just doing a little extra knowing what we’re missing and knowing what we need out there on the court and just continue playing Pacers basketball. We’ve built the system here and I feel like everybody has bought into the system. That’s why we’ve been so successful. If we continue doing that, we’re gonna still be great.”
Toppin has to be prepared again to play both power forward and center off the bench. Last year, the Pacers needed Toppin to provide depth behind Turner after backups Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman tore their Achilles tendons in the first 10 days of the season, missing the rest of the year. The Pacers eventually added Thomas Bryant and Tony Bradley but still used Toppin at the 5 for smaller, faster lineups.
This year, Jackson and Wiseman are back healthy. The Pacers added Jay Huff in a trade with the Grizzlies after Turner’s departure and they still have Tony Bradley on a non-guaranteed contract.
However, Toppin will probably still get work at center alongside All-Star starting power forward Pascal Siakam because he has enough size to hang in the post but is also so good in transition that he allows the Pacers to play much faster when he’s at the 5. He’s one of the best rim-runners and paint finishers in the league. He averaged a career high 10.5 points per game last season in 19.6 minutes per game off the bench. That equates to 19.4 points per 36 minutes, the third highest figure on the Pacers among players who appeared in at least 20 games behind only Haliburton and Siakam. He shot 52.9% from the floor including 69.5% on 2-point shots, making a remarkable 79.1% of his attempts within 3 feet of the basket according to Basketball Reference.
“I’m gonna come in with the same mentality,” Toppin said. “Wherever coach puts me, I’m gonna be ready to play.”
He also has faith in the other centers. He’s had the opportunity recently to work with Huff at the Pacers’ practice facility and has seen growth in Jackson and Wiseman as they’ve recovered from their injuries.
“All the bigs that we have here are amazing bigs,” Toppin said. “We had Isaiah and James here last year, so they understand the system. They’ve been around it for so long. And Jay Huff is really smart and really good at basketball. He comes in and does his work. He’s going to pick up on everything really quickly. … Isaiah and James both look good. I’ve been watching them work out as well. Those guys look really good. I can’t wait for the season.”
The Pacers still have two weeks before preseason training camp begins which gave Toppin time to sneak in his second annual camp in Indianapolis since the Pacers acquired him from the Knicks in a trade in July of 2023. He’s also worked with CareSource for a camp in Dayton where he starred for the Flyers in college, earning national player of the year honors in 2020. An estimated 75 kids took part in Saturday’s camp and Toppin participated in drills and scrimmages, giving some players a chance to throw him lobs for dunks.
“I’ve been doing it in Dayton for the past four or five years,” Toppin said. “Coming to Indy, just seeing the culture, knowing the culture here, I love doing stuff like this, so why not do it here since I’m here? The kids love it. The fans love it. Coming out here every single year, as long as I’m here I’m going to do this every summer.”