Pacers give Braden Smith a start while Haliburton sits out

Who is in the Pacers starting lineup at Dallas? The Indiana Pacers depth chart has Braden Smith, Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith and Jay Huff expected to start at the Dallas Mavericks on Monday 9 November 2026. It is a five built around an injury report, not around the club's best players.

Tyrese Haliburton is out until 13 Nov, which is why Smith, a reserve guard averaging 13.9 minutes and 5.0 points, gets the nod. Ivica Zubac is expected to come off the bench, yet he is projected for more minutes than any starter bar Nembhard and Siakam.

Confirmed lineups arrive about 30 minutes before tip-off, and this five allows for everyone on the injury report. Everything below is at the time of writing and draws on the games each player has played so far this season.

The expected starters for Monday's game at the Mavericks are Smith at guard, Siakam at forward, Nembhard and Nesmith in the guard-forward spots and Huff at forward-center. The five comes from recent starts with anyone ruled out removed, and the minutes attached to it are projected for this game.

It is a lineup you would not draw up on a healthy night. Haliburton is the club's leading scorer and passer, and he is not in it. Obi Toppin, fourth in points on the roster, is not in it either. What you get is a mix of regular starters and a reserve promoted to cover a gap.

The Pacers are 3-6 over their last 9 games, so this is a team already looking for traction while it patches the rotation together.

Smith has played 6 games and averages 13.9 minutes, 5.0 points and 2.8 assists, shooting 52.0% from the field. Those are bench numbers, and his promotion is about the hole at the point guard spot rather than anything he has done to force his way in. With Haliburton out, the page's five comes from recent starts, and Smith fills the guard slot.

The other four starters are established. Nembhard leads the roster in minutes at 33.4, Siakam is third at 31.9, and Nesmith (24.1) and Huff (19.2) round out the group. The table below sets all five side by side.

Put the two point guards together and the gap is plain. Haliburton has played 4 games at 33.0 minutes, with 21.8 points and 9.5 assists, shooting 51.6% from the field and 37.0% from three. Smith's 5.0 points and 2.8 assists come in less than half those minutes. Smith does shoot 52.0% from the field, but on a small workload.

That is the story of this five. The lineup is not a statement about Smith's form. It is a statement about who is available, and the rotation numbers on the Pacers depth chart bear it out.

Nembhard tops the roster in minutes at 33.4 a game, just ahead of Haliburton's 33.0. He scores 19.0 points, hands out 6.9 assists, second on the team behind Haliburton's 9.5, and hits 39.5% from three. With Haliburton out, he is the obvious candidate to carry the ball-handling that Smith cannot yet shoulder at 13.9 minutes a night.

Siakam is the other anchor. His 21.3 points rank second on the roster and his 7.1 rebounds rank second as well. Those two supply the production that lets the lineup survive a reserve at the point.

A starting five tells you who is on the floor first, not who produces most. Two of the Pacers' top four scorers are not in this one: Haliburton, because of the injury, and Toppin, because he has not been the player the page's five picks from recent starts.

Toppin is the clearest case of a productive player outside the group. He has played 6 games and averages 22.2 minutes, which is less than Nesmith's 24.1, but he scores 14.5 points, ahead of Nesmith's 12.7.

Obi Toppin shoots 53.4% from the field and 41.4% from three. Compare that with the starters: Nesmith is at 40.3% from the field and 30.8% from three, Siakam at 30.3% from three, Huff at 30.8%. Only Nembhard, at 39.5%, comes close to Toppin from deep among the five.

None of that moves Toppin into the first five on the page's logic, which follows recent starts. It does show how far this lineup is shaped by availability rather than by the best individual numbers.

Tyrese Haliburton has played only 4 games, so every figure here covers a short run. In them he averages 21.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 9.5 assists and 1.3 steals, and he leads the Pacers in points and assists.

His expected return is 13 Nov, the next lineup change to watch. When he is back, the point guard spot goes to him and Smith drops to the second unit he normally belongs to.

The first four off the bench are Zubac, Kelly Oubre Jr., Jarace Walker and Quenton Jackson, in that order of projected minutes. The rotation list on the page ranks every available player by minutes, so the bench order reads straight down it from sixth man.

Zubac's 28.7 projected minutes are the headline. They are more than Nesmith's 24.1 season average and Huff's 19.2, so the second unit is carrying real minutes, not garbage time. For the same view of other clubs, see the NBA starting lineups hub.

Zubac has played 4 games and brings 7.0 points, a team-best 7.8 rebounds and 0.8 blocks, shooting 48.0% from the field. Oubre gives 9.4 points on 42.9% shooting, with 25.9% from three. Walker adds 7.2 points and 6.3 rebounds on 36.9% shooting, and Jackson chips in 10.4 points and 1.4 steals.

Jackson's 10.4 points sit just behind Nesmith's 12.7: he is sixth on the roster in scoring, right behind Nesmith in fifth.

The bench is the more physical group. Zubac and Walker are first and third on the roster in rebounds (7.8 and 6.3), while the starters bring the scoring through Siakam and Nembhard. Pair that with a promoted reserve at the point and you get a rotation where the second unit sets the tone on the glass.

It is also a bench with a doubt hanging over it. Oubre is on the injury report, which leads straight into the next question.

The Pacers list five players on the injury report, and the table shows who is out for Indiana and when each is expected back. Three are out and two are questionable.

The one to watch is Oubre. If he is ruled out, his projected 24.5 minutes need to go somewhere. The other date is 13 Nov, when Haliburton is expected back. For wider coverage, the NBA injuries page tracks every club.

Johnny Furphy and Ben Sheppard are both out until 2 Jan. Furphy has no games on his line this season, and Sheppard has played 1 game, so neither has been a factor in the rotation so far.

Haliburton is the absence that shapes the five. His 13 Nov return is far closer than the other two, and it is the date that will reshuffle the starters.

T.J. McConnell has no games on his line this season, and the page lists him as questionable. Oubre has played 7 games and averages 23.2 minutes, and he is the one whose status matters most to the bench, since the page projects 24.5 minutes for him.

The five is built to allow for everyone on the report, so a late change among the questionable players should not break the starting group. It would reshape the second unit.

Confirmed lineups come about 30 minutes before tip-off. Two things are worth a look when they land: whether Oubre is cleared, and whether Smith or a bench guard actually starts at the point.

The Mavericks v Pacers preview covers the game itself. For the rotation as it stands, the Pacers starting lineup and bench order is the page to keep open until the official five is announced.

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