James Wiseman Achilles Tear Leaves Indiana Pacers Light At Center

DETROIT — After less than five minutes of action with the Indiana Pacers, his new team, James Wiseman could hardly move. It was late in the first quarter of the Pacers’ battle with the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday, and after Wiseman took a three-point jumper, he turned to run back on defense. But he couldn’t do it. He stopped at midcourt and reached toward the lower part of his left leg. Wiseman was helped off the court and back to the Pacers locker room in Little Caesars Arena, biting a towel as he left the floor. Many feared the worst — an Achilles injury. The next day, those fears were confirmed. Wiseman suffered an injury to his left Achilles tendon, per the Pacers, and will miss time. The tendon is torn, and the team as well as Wiseman are working together on treatment options. Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle has since shared that Wiseman had surgery to repair his left Achilles tendon, which was done by Dr. Martin O’Malley in New York. “James Wiseman suffered a lower leg injury in the first half. I thought he played really well,” Carlisle said after the game Wednesday. “The minutes he was in there [weren’t] very long. Ended up being a six-point game, and he scored six points, so his minutes were meaningful.” Wiseman finished the night with six points and one rebound. He averaged 8.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in the preseason while shooting an impressive 70.8% from the field. The young big man came to Indiana to develop. He’s seen the Pacers turn young talents into more successful players, and he hoped to be next. Indiana, meanwhile, needed a third center behind Isaiah Jackson and Myles Turner, and someone with Wiseman’s size and potential was a worthy choice. What comes next for James Wiseman and the Pacers? Unfortunately, this injury changes things. Turner played in Detroit while Jackson, who had a groin injury, did not. Beyond those two and Wiseman, the blue and gold don’t currently have a player on their roster over six-feet-nine-inches tall. Obi Toppin is that size and has filled in as a center before, but he is more effective as a power forward. Rookie big man Enrique Freeman was Indiana’s emergency center in Detroit, and he did well given that it was his first-ever NBA game. He is only six-feet-seven-inches tall, though, and shouldn’t be relied on for major minutes in his first year even with his summer league and preseason success. The Pacers are in a bind. They needed Wiseman as a third center, but they won’t have him for a while as he recovers from surgery. Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star shared that the Pacers haven’t ruled out Wiseman for the season yet, which is relevant for their next steps. But he will certainly be out for a while — Jeff Stotts of InStreetClothes wrote in 2018 that his injury database logged the average recovery time for a torn Achilles at 10 months. However, even some of the fastest recoveries from a torn Achilles in Stotts’ database were between 230 and 240 days, and from the date of Wiseman’s injury, even that ambitious timeline would land his return in mid-June. Medicine and treatment plans evolve, and the exact severity of the injury isn’t known. But considering the big man has surgery, it’s at least reasonable to assume that Wiseman will be out for a while, and the Pacers need to find a new solution at center. Freeman is on a two-way deal, and there’s only so much he can do. He played six total minutes against the Pistons. The Pacers do have an open roster spot and a bit of wiggle room under the luxury tax, but their finances are tight. Wiseman’s injury will almost certainly lock in his cap hit — his contract is only guaranteed for $500,000 this season, but the Collective Bargaining Agreement has a clause that provides compensation protection when players suffer a Basketball-Related Injury. Bobby Marks of ESPN was quick to point out that Wiseman’s deal will likely become fully guaranteed for the ongoing season as a result of the injury. Indiana can use their open spot on the team to add another center if they wanted. They could opt to do so on a non-guaranteed contract and re-assess their situation in the middle of the season. That would be the path that maximizes their flexibility and depth. How could the Pacers find solutions without James Wiseman? If the Pacers think that Wiseman will be out until June 15 of 2025, they could opt to apply for a Disabled Player Exception (DPE). Should they apply, a Fitness-to-Play Panel would review if they believe that Wiseman would be out for at least that amount of time. If they agree, Indiana would then receive the salary cap exception. It would allow them to acquire a player on a one-year contract, but their cap hit could only max out at just over $1.1 million (half of Wiseman’s salary for the ongoing season). Any player added using a DPE would still count against the salary cap, and the Pacers financial flexibility under the luxury tax is small. But having more ways to add players is better than not, so getting approved for the exception would be helpful if it’s determined that Wiseman is out for at least eight months. DPEs expire if they go unused before the injured player is traded or returns from injury before it gets used, and the deadline to add someone with the exception is March 10. That all may not be relevant. What Indiana opts to do with Wiseman is still to be determined. In 2021, Pacers guard Edmond Sumner tore his Achilles before the season started, and Indiana chose to attach a second round pick to Sumner’s contract and traded him to the Brooklyn Nets. That removed Sumner’s cap hit from the Pacers books altogether, which could be something the team considers this season with Wiseman. The blue and gold had similar luxury tax concerns in the 2021-22 season. Perhaps a similar path could be considered with Wiseman, though it is still too early in the process to identify what the Pacers should do. A trade would conflict with any plans involving a DPE. If they need depth at the five, they may need to act fast. Bismack Biyombo, Moses Brown, and JaVale McGee are three of many possible free agent centers available on the market. Indiana has some of their Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception available if they wish to sign a player to a longer deal, but at this stage of the season, minimum contracts with lighter guarantees seem far more likely. Perhaps the Pacers are comfortable with Freeman and small-ball lineups with Toppin manning the middle and won’t make a move at all. They have many options worth considering. With James Wiseman now out for a while, they’ll have to think hard about all of those paths at the reserve five spot. Indiana is back in action later today, and Jackson is available after missing the Pacers first game due to injury. The Pacers will be constantly assessing the center position from tonight onward.