Pacers' Injury List Grows Again After Obi Toppin's Morning Setback

Obi Toppin's back went out before shootaround Friday morning in Miami, and the Indiana Pacers scratched the forward that afternoon, acting coach Lloyd Pierce said after a 145-125 NBA Cup loss to the Heat.

Toppin became the sixth Pacer unavailable. The No. 8 pick in the 2020 draft, he came to Indiana from the New York Knicks in a 2023 trade. Indiana dressed 11 players for its fourth game in six days.

The other five were Tyrese Haliburton (hamstring), T.J. McConnell (hamstring), Ivica Zubac (left ankle), Ben Sheppard (knee), and Johnny Furphy (knee).

Haliburton has a mild left hamstring strain and is week-to-week, with the team's next update due in about two weeks. He had played four games this season after missing all of 2025-26.

Zubac sprained his left ankle in the Oct. 25 win at Brooklyn. Friday was his third straight missed game.

Sheppard was scheduled for surgery on a torn meniscus Wednesday. Furphy also has a knee injury, and McConnell has a hamstring strain.

Indiana has lost three straight and is 2-4. Before Miami, it lost 110-102 at Milwaukee on Monday and 114-109 at home to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle missed Friday's game to attend his father's funeral in Ogdensburg, New York. Preston Carlisle died Oct. 3 at 96. Pierce, the former Atlanta Hawks coach, ran the bench in his place.

Group B will come down to point differential, Pierce said, and the Pacers lost by 20 with 11 players available. Miami won the last three quarters 109-83. Group B also includes the Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, and Knicks.

"I think everybody goes through this first and foremost," Pierce said. "Other teams will face it at some point during the year. How you handle adversity is part of the growth in this league."

Four days before Miami, the Pacers had already started Kelly Oubre Jr. in place of Andrew Nembhard and Jay Huff in place of Zubac at Milwaukee. Nembhard missed that game with a neck and back issue.

Behind the starters that night, Indiana's available standard-contract players were Quenton Jackson, Jarace Walker, Oubre, Toppin, Huff, and Larry Nance Jr.

Toppin had 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists off the bench in the win over the Nets.

Jackson led Indiana with 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting in Miami. Walker scored 14, and Huff and Pascal Siakam each had 13.

Aaron Nesmith was available Friday with a hamstring injury. Nembhard was available with neck soreness.

Indiana hosts the Brooklyn Nets at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET. The Pacers' next NBA Cup game is Nov. 13 at home against the New York Knicks.