Pacers Reportedly 'Still Deciding' on Being Luxury Tax Team After Haliburton Injury

The Indiana Pacers were prepared to enter the 2025-26 season as a luxury tax team heading into Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals, according to The Athletic's Fred Katz.

After losing Tyrese Haliburton for potentially the entirety of next season to an Achilles injury, however, Katz reported that the Pacers are "still deciding" whether to pay the tax next season.

The Pacers have already dedicated 59 percent of next season's cap to paying Haliburton and Pascal Siakam.

With eight other players currently signed for the 2025-26 campaign, the Pacers currently sit just under $20 million shy of the tax, according to Spotrac.

That doesn't include a new contract for starting center Myles Turner, who is entering free agency after the expiration of his previous two-year, $40.9 million deal with the Pacers.

ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel reported on Friday that Turner "wants to remain with the Pacers, and the team is motivated to get a new, long-term contract done quickly."

But The Athletic's Jovan Buha reported back in February that Turner was expected to seek an annual average salary in the range of $30 million per year.

A deal in that range would put the Pacers $10 million into the tax while remaining four players short of a full roster.

The Pacers will need to decide if keeping together a potential starting lineup of Turner, Siakam, Bennedict Mathurin and Aaron Nesmith, with Andrew Nembhard as possible temporary replacement for Haliburton, would keep the franchise competitive enough to justify taking on tax penalties next season.

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle recently said about Haliburton it was "very unlikely that he'll play at all next year." The depth the Pacers displayed during this year's run to the finals could still be enough to convince the franchise to keep the core together even if it means pushing for the playoffs without Haliburton next spring.