Andrew Nembhard is the lead guard on a short-handed Pacers team, posting 17.6 points and 8.0 assists a night with a 62.6% true shooting mark. Indiana is still losing his minutes by 2.4 points per 100 possessions, because the defense gives back what his passing builds.
The ball is his
Tyrese Haliburton is out until November 13 with a left hamstring strain, and T.J. McConnell is out until November 2 with a hamstring injury of his own. That leaves Nembhard running the offense in 32.2 minutes a night. His 31.0% assist rate tells you how much of the offense he sets up, and his 20.0% usage tells you he is not hunting his own shot to do it. In Miami he had 22 points and 9 assists on 8-of-16 shooting. Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files noted that at one stretch Nembhard had made more threes than the Heat as a team.
A shooter's line, earned honestly
The efficiency is the best thing about his game. He is hitting 42.3% from three on 5.2 attempts, 90.5% at the line and 47.5% overall, and his offensive rating is 119.0. Eight assists against 2.4 turnovers is how the extra pass is supposed to look: the ball moves on time and nobody forces anything. Against Miami he went 5 of 8 from deep. None of that is a fluke built on heavy volume. It is a guard taking the shot the possession gives him.
Where the minutes leak
His defensive rating of 121.4 wipes out the offense and leaves him at a -2.4 net rating. In the 145-125 loss in Miami he was -28 in 30 minutes, the worst mark on the roster, as the Heat outscored Indiana in the paint. He averages 0.6 steals. He was cleared on October 30 after neck and back tags and is off the injury report. He makes $19.6M this season and $21.0M in 2027-28, the fourth-largest salary on a payroll above the tax line. The verdict: until Haliburton returns, Nembhard has to be the guard who gets stops, not only the one who keeps the ball moving. Brooklyn comes in on November 1 at 0-5, with Mikel Brown Jr. and Egor Demin both out. A short-handed backcourt like that is where his on-ball defense needs to show up.
Is Andrew Nembhard playing against the Nets on November 1?
He is not on the injury report. He was cleared on October 30 and played 30 minutes in Miami.
How much is Andrew Nembhard paid by the Pacers?
He earns $19.6M in 2026-27 and is due $21.0M in 2027-28.
