Hear from Indiana Pacers T.J. McConnell and Ivica Zubac end of season interview
Hear from Indiana Pacers T.J. McConnell and Ivica Zubac end of season interview on Sunday, April 12, 2026, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
- He did not get to play with stars Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam, who were both injured during his brief time on the court.
- Teammates and coaches are optimistic about how Zubac’s rebounding and screen-setting will benefit the team next season.
INDIANAPOLIS — Ivica Zubac took a hit to his side in the first quarter of the Pacers’ March 18 game against the Trail Blazers and felt some pain but he didn’t consider it anything serious. He actually left the game in the fourth quarter with a different injury as Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan went up for a lob and hit Zubac with his left elbow on the right side of his head. Zubac had a welt on his head the size of a golf ball and left the game.
However, in the locker room afterward, he was holding an ice pack to his side and felt pain when he laughed at teammates making fun of his goose egg. And overnight things got worse.
“(My rib) didn’t feel like it was fractured,” Zubac said in his end-of-season news conference before the Pacers’ season-ending loss to the Pistons on Sunday. “After the game it got a little worse. I had trouble sleeping through the night and the next morning when I woke up it was very painful.”
An MRI showed a fractured rib that ended Zubac’s 2025-26 season after he’d played just five games for the Pacers following a February trade from the Clippers. He spent his first month with the team sitting out games to let an ankle he’d sprained in December fully heal. However, rather than shut him down for the rest of a lost season for the Pacers, coach Rick Carlisle wanted to get Zubac back on the floor to get a sense of how his new teammates operate. He also wanted his new teammates to get a better sense of how they would operate with their new starting center as he is a significantly different player than Myles Turner, the center who spent 10 years with the franchise before leaving for the Bucks in free agency last summer.
Despite the small sample size, Zubac said the experience provided valuable information he can use this offseason. He averaged 23.6 minutes per game in those five appearances with 11.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 0.8 blocks per game.
“I kind of got a feel for how this team wants to play,” Zubac said. “About the pace, about defensive coverages, about defensive rotations. Offensively, where they want me to be, what they want me to do. It definitely helped. I wish it was more games, for sure, to get a better feel for it. I kind of understood what they want from me. I got the whole summer to get in the best shape of my life and get ready for next year.”
Zubac didn’t get a chance to play with the Pacers’ two most important players. All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton missed the whole season with a right Achilles tendon tear and All-Star forward Pascal Siakam missed all five games Zubac played with a knee sprain, returning right after Zubac was injured. Carlisle was particularly disappointed to not be able to jumpstart the Siakam-Zubac frontcourt partnership. However, the Pacers who did get a chance to play with Zubac enjoyed the experience and saw clearly how he could be impactful on both ends of the floor.
They knew that already, of course. Zubac posted 31 points and 29 rebounds against the Pacers in a November 2022 game and he was averaging 14.4 points and 11.0 rebounds per game for the Clippers prior to the trade. But spending time on the floor with him gave them a better sense of the finer points of his game — the way he moves without the ball, passes out of double teams, defends, rebounds and sets bone-crushing screens.
“Even though we didn’t get to play that many games with him, the games I did get to play with him, you could just get the sense and a feel that he knows how to play the game,” forward Aaron Nesmith said. “He’s about the right things. He just wants to win. He brings something that we haven’t had here so that’s exciting to play with and to get for a full season.”
He does indeed bring some things that Turner didn’t have, but Turner also had elements to his game that Zubac does not. The 7-foot, 240-pound Zubac is more powerfully built and that makes him a better rebounder, screen setter and post scorer than Turner. However, Turner is a slightly better shot-blocker and a significantly better outside shooter. In his 11th season, Turner has increased his reliance on the 3-ball, hitting at least 116 3-pointers in each of the last three seasons including 147 this year with the Bucks and 156 for the Pacers last season when he helped them to the NBA Finals. Zubac has taken exactly 12 3-pointers in 10 NBA seasons and made just one.
Carlisle acknowledged that Zubac’s style will mean the Pacers will have to make some adjustments to the way they play. Zubac and Siakam give them two players who are comfortable and effective operating with their backs to the basket, so that will change the spacing. However, Haliburton, who has been watching closely from the sidelines, doesn’t think they’ll have any problem making it work.
“I’m really excited about the partnership we can create,” Haliburton said. “I feel like his screen setting ability is something new for me. Obviously he doesn’t space the floor as well as MT. He doesn’t shoot the 3 nearly as well, but he presents a lot of different strengths. I’m looking forward to playing alongside him.”
Haliburton said he’s heard critiques suggesting that not having a floor-spacing center will cause problems for him and for the offense, but noted that he’s had to make adjustments before.
“When I came here, it was the thing of, I had to play with a roll guy, because I came from playing with Richaun (Holmes in Sacramento,)” Haliburton said. “I had to play with a roll guy. But then I played with Myles and we were the best pick-and-roll duo in the NBA. Now, we add Zu, and it’s like, ‘Well, Tyrese has to play with floor spacing.’ No, that’s not how it works. I can figure it out and we can figure it out as a group. I think me and Zu are going to be really good together.”
Haliburton noted that there are similarities between Zubac and Holmes, but also things Zubac can do that other bigs Haliburton’s worked with cannot. Zubac is excellent around the rim, making 69.5% of his career field goal attempts within 3 feet of the basket according to Basketball Reference, but he’s also a 53% career shooter from 3-10 feet using floaters and hook shots out of post-ups.
“He’s really good in that little short roll area with the floater, which is what Richaun did really well in my time in Sac,” Haliburton said. “Obviously, (Zubac’s) post-up ability. He gets doubled more than really anybody if you look at the numbers. He gets doubled all the time. That will be different for me to play with. But I’m really looking forward to it. There’s a lot he can help me with, a lot I can help him with. It’s gonna be fun.”
Dustin Dopirak covers the Pacers all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Pacers Insider newsletter.
