T.J. McConnell Is Back to Save the Pacers' Broken Bench

Rick Carlisle finally delivered the only injury update Indiana Pacers fans actually care about right now. T.J. McConnell and his hamstring are officially cleared to return to the floor on Monday.

The veteran guard has been sidelined with a muscle issue, leaving a massive, chaotic void in the second unit. Getting him back is a massive relief for a rotation that has looked completely lost without its primary spark plug.

"Carlisle: TJ McConnell (hamstring) available to play Monday."

Indiana is currently riding a brutal three-game losing streak, dropping consecutive games to the Hawks, Grizzlies, and Nuggets. Over that stretch, the offense has sputtered, desperately missing the guy who averaged 9.4 points and 5.1 assists in just 17 minutes a night last season.

It is objectively hilarious that a 34-year-old backup point guard is the structural load-bearing wall for a modern NBA offense. But when McConnell is out, the Pacers' bench unit operates with all the offensive fluidity of a broken shopping cart.

For anyone staring at the prop markets, McConnell’s return completely scrambles the usage rates for the rest of the second unit. He only logged nine minutes and six points in his lone appearance this season before the hamstring flared up, so expect Carlisle to monitor his workload closely.

The Pacers head into Dallas on Monday night desperate to stop the bleeding against the Mavericks. If McConnell can just survive a 15-minute shift without his hamstring turning into pulled pork, Indiana might actually remember how to win a basketball game.