TLDR: Tyrese Haliburton's first game in 16 months won't be in Indianapolis. It's at Hilton Coliseum, the Iowa State gym where he became a star, against a Timberwolves team that tore itself up over the summer.
It's preseason, so lower your expectations for the basketball. Wednesday, October 7 is still worth watching. Haliburton tore his right Achilles in Game 7 of the 2025 Finals, missed all of last season, and walked into camp saying he had "no restrictions." Rick Carlisle backed that up at the start of camp: he doesn't expect a lot of limitations, said the Pacers will "go at the correct pace," and called Haliburton and Pascal Siakam "our two main guys." This is Indiana's exhibition opener, so it's the first live look at whether the guard who ran that Finals offense is still that guy.
The Wolves are the other half of the story, and they're barely the same team. Minnesota landed LaMelo Ball and Josh Green from Charlotte in a 4-team July trade, with Julius Randle going to Brooklyn and Naz Reid to the Hornets. Mike Conley left for Boston and Joe Ingles went overseas. Ball now runs the offense next to Anthony Edwards, with Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels still on the back line, and Chris Finch has to build a new rotation in about 3 weeks.
Minnesota plays one more exhibition before this one, at Milwaukee on October 5, so the Wolves get to Ames with a game behind them and Indiana will be playing its first. That Bucks game is the first real look at how Finch splits minutes between Ball and Edwards and how much the starters play. Whatever he does there is the best guess for how this one looks too.
The injury list is thin on both sides, but it matters more than usual for teams still sorting out their rotations. The Wolves are without Donte DiVincenzo, who is recovering from an Achilles injury. Tim Connelly believes he'll be back at some point this season, and until then the backcourt minutes behind Ball and Edwards are wide open. Indiana has Larry Nance Jr. limited to 5-on-0 work after a hamstring injury, and Johnny Furphy's torn ACL from February ended his season.
For Indiana, this is about Haliburton's legs and timing. Watch whether he's pushing the ball the way he used to and whether he trusts a hard plant off the right foot. For Minnesota, it's whether Ball and Edwards look like they can share the ball or will take turns with it. Tipoff is 7:00 PM ET. Nobody's season gets decided in Ames, but you'll learn something about both teams.
