How Pacers will replace Tyrese Haliburton, out at least two weeks with elbow, knee injury

Pacers star point guard Tyrese Haliburton will miss at least two weeks, but the injuries he suffered Wednesday night against the Knicks were ultimately characterized as mild, the team said Thursday in a release.

According to the release: "Haliburton suffered a left elbow sprain and a mild left knee bone contusion during the third quarter of last night’s game at New York. He underwent an MRI this afternoon on his elbow and knee in Indianapolis and the team is awaiting additional opinion on the results of those scans. Haliburton will be re-evaluated in approximately two weeks and updates will be provided as appropriate."

Haliburton injured the knee and the elbow in the third quarter of the Pacers' loss to the Knicks on Wednesday when he landed awkwardly and got his shoe trapped under the feet of Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein. Haliburton posted 15 points and seven assists before the injury. The Pacers rallied but lost that game 119-113 to fall to 23-19 on the season.

Pacers score:Down Tyrese Haliburton, Myles Turner, TJ McConnell inspires Pacers in close loss to Knicks

Haliburton, acquired in a trade from the Sacramento Kings in February, has been the driving force behind the Pacers surprising start. He leads the team with 20.2 points per game and leads the NBA in assists with 10.2 per game. He's also third in the NBA in steals with 1.8 per game. Largely because of his influence, the Pacers are seventh in the league in pace and 10th in scoring with 115.6 points per game.

If Haliburton misses exactly two weeks, he would miss eight games and be due back on Jan. 27 when the Pacers host the Milwaukee Bucks. He has played in 40 of the Pacers' 42 games this season. In the two games he missed in December due to a groin strain, rookie Andrew Nembhard moved over from shooting guard to point guard, which is his natural position. In the first of those two games, he posted 16 points and eight assists in a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, but he then scored 31 points and dropped 13 assists in a surprising win over the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco. Nembhard is averaging 8.5 points and 3.7 assists this season and is considered one of the Pacers' best perimeter defenders.

Moving Nembhard would still open another spot on the starting lineup. The Pacers could decide to move rookie guard Bennedict Mathurin into a starting role, or they could slide veteran wing Buddy Hield from small forward to shooting guard and starting power forward Aaron Nesmith to the 3, opening up the possibility for big man Jalen Smith to move back to the starting lineup at the 4 or wing Oshae Brissett to move into the starting lineup. Veteran T.J. McConnell will likely remain the second-team point guard. The domino-effect of the move could also lead to more playing time for forward Isaiah Jackson.

Of course, the Pacers also have other injury concerns. As of Thursday evening, Nesmith (non-COVID illness), Brissett (left hamstring soreness) and center Myles Turner (back spasms) were all listed as questionable for Friday's home game against the Atlanta Hawks. Haliburton is listed as out on that injury report.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Tyrese Haliburton injury: Will miss at least 2 weeks with knee, elbow injuries