Pacers News: Rick Carlisle Unsure of Severity of Isaiah Jackson Injury

The Indiana frontcourt star had a scary moment on Friday.

Nov 1, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Isaiah Jackson (22) dunks the ball against New Orleans Pelicans forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (50) during the second half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

The 2024-25 Indiana Pacers' streak of bad luck just keeps getting grislier. And it's barely November.

While attempting to defend New Orleans Pelicans All-Star combo forward in an eventual 125-118 New Orleans win (the Pelicans closed the game with a 10-0 scoring flurry, peppered with frequent trips to the foul line), Pacers forward Isaiah Jackson went up for a block. He came down with what looked like one of the worst injuries possible for high-impact athletics to suffer.

Head coach Rick Carlisle reportedly put on a brave face when addressing his young reserve's health going forward.

Rick Carlisle on Isaiah’s Jackson’s right calf injury, his voice trembling.

"We don't have a final prognosis on Isaiah's situation. But it's a right lower-leg injury. We're hoping it's not the worse news.”

Video of the non-contact injury, which appears to be another Achilles. pic.twitter.com/2lSXmAVSkW

— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) November 2, 2024

"We don't have a final prognosis on Isaiah's situation. But it's a right lower-leg injury. We're hoping it's not the worse news,” Carlisle said, per Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. Agness went on to speculate that the non-contact ailment looked like an Achilles tear. It would be the same injury that backup center James Wiseman suffered earlier this year.

Alex Golden of the "Setting The Pace" podcast noted that the injury looked identical to what befell Wiseman, while Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star also seemed to believe that Jackson had, indeed, torn his Achilles.

The 6-foot-9 Kentucky product has been an intriguing defense-first role player for the 2-4 Pacers. Across 16.8 minutes a night, the 22-year-old had been averaging 7.0 points on 60.9 percent field goal shooting and 50.0 percent foul line shooting, while also grabbing 5.6 rebounds, blocking 1.6 shots and swiping 0.6 steals.

Achilles injuries are often career-altering. In modern(ish) NBA history, athletic superstar forwards like Kevin Durant and Dominique Wilkins both managed to look almost exactly like their pre-injury selves. Jackson, at least, is thankfully another athletic big man.

Indiana can hardly afford to lose more frontcourt bodies. With Wiseman out (probably for the year), and Jackson presumably joining him, the team's bench depth is stretched pretty thin. The Pacers are a long way from their 47-35 season finish and subsequent East Finals appearance in 2023-24, and amidst a crowded Eastern Conference a slow start is never ideal. Indiana needs to fortify some of its roster rotations and perhaps make marginal deals around the periphery of the roster, but nothing major.

This core is still capable of making waves in the conference. It just needs All-NBA point guard Tyrese Haliburton stop his ice-cold shooting slump. On Friday, he scored 11 points on 2-of-8 shooting from the field and 6-of-6 shooting from the foul line. On the plus side, he dished out 11 dimes.

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