The Pacers will be without starting center Myles Turner and rotation guard Edmond Sumner for the foreseeable future due to injuries, the team announced today in a press release.
According to the Pacers, Turner has been diagnosed with a sprained right ankle, which he suffered in the first quarter of Wednesday’s win over the Nets. He is being listed as “week-to-week” as opposed to day-to-day. Scott Agness of The Athletic (Twitter link) hears from a league source that Indiana expects Turner to be sidelined for at least two weeks.
As for Sumner, the third-year guard has a non-displaced fracture of the third metacarpal in his right hand, per the team. While he won’t require surgery, the 23-year-old will miss at least three weeks before being re-evaluated.
Turner, the lone Pacers starter who was also part of last season’s starting five, had been leaned on heavily to start the year, having logged at least 38 minutes in each of the club’s first three games. Meanwhile, Sumner had taken on an increased role in the backcourt with Victor Oladipo on the shelf, averaging 22.3 minutes per contest and starting two games before he went down.
With those two players out, Aaron Holiday is the top candidate to pick up more minutes in the backcourt, while Domantas Sabonis will take on a bigger role up front. T.J. Leaf and first-round pick Goga Bitadze could also see more regular minutes during Turner’s absence.
I hate to see Turner and Sumner hurt, but the bright side is that it may force Nate to play Goga TJ Leaf, and Aaron Holiday more.
Also should improve the roll of Domas, so will see how brilliant he is as the main big. It can turn a very good season for him into a truly great season!
That’s certainly the bright side for the Pacers’ opponents.
This will show that turner is the one to be traded. They are awful playing together…not enough offense. Maybe it will work when VO returns. Turner takes bad shots…Sabonis doesn’t. Nate needs to give more minutes to the bench. Time for Holiday to show us he was worthy of #1.
And it doesn’t help that Turner is a terrible rebounder. Between that and the lack of offense, he’s gotta be the one to go.