Just when the Pacers couldn’t afford another key player sidelined … one of the worst came at the worst possible moments.
Per Shams Charania of The Athletic, standout Caris LeVert will be out 10-14 days because of the league’s health and safety protocols. That means LeVert will be out for Tuesday’s play-in game vs. the Hornets.
Should the injury-riddled Pacers somehow survive that, they will have to march on without LeVert for a number of weeks. It’s hard to imagine them getting very far in that scenario.
Meanwhile, Domantas Sabonis is expected to play in spite of a quad bruise.
Malcolm Brogdon, who has missed the past 10 games with a hamstring injury, is questionable, as Aaron Holiday (great right toe sprain), Edmond Sumner (left knee contusion).
Already listed as out: Jeremy Lamb (sore left knee), Myles Turner (right toe injury), and T.J. Warren (left foot surgery rehab).
So this could be the end of the season for the Pacers. Surviving would be a true basketball miracle.
Whenever the Pacers are eliminated, word is, they will be deciding the future of first-year coach Nate Bjorkgren, who reportedly has had some dramas with the players and his own assistants.
Right now, though, the Pacers are just trying to make the best of a season that continues to have its fair share of challenges.
The winner of the Pacers-Hornets matchup advances to play the loser of Wizards-Celtics game on Thursday. The season is over for the loser of the Pacers-Hornets game.
