Indiana Pacers Center Ivica Zubac Suffers Season-Ending Rib Injury

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Pacers center Ivica Zubac suffered a fractured rib earlier this week and will miss the rest of the Pacers 2025-26 season.

The injury took place for Zubac, who turned 29 on March 18, on Wednesday when the Pacers hosted the Portland Trail Blazers.

Zubac was in a physical battle with Blazers big men, including Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams, and took many hits throughout the night.

His outing ended early after taking an elbow to the face in the fourth quarter that left a knot on Zubac’s head.

“I hope he’s gonna be okay,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said when asked about Zubac’s head injury.

“I didn’t hear anything about a concussion or anything like that.”
The Pacers official designation that night was that Zubac had a head contusion.

He never returned to the game.

When speaking to reporters postgame at his locker, Zubac was icing his midsection, too, suggesting he took strong hits in multiple places throughout the game.

Now, his season is over.

Zubac will miss all of the Pacers final 12 games this season as he recovers.

What does Zubac’s injury mean for the Pacers?

Zubac was traded to the Pacers in February, then missed about a month as he recovered from an ankle injury he suffered while playing for the Los Angeles Clippers.

While Indiana is eliminated from playoff contention, one of their goals for the rest of the season was to get Zubac some reps in their system and evaluate his fit alongside other players.

Those objectives are cut short.

Zubac appeared in five games for the Pacers this season and averaged 11.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.

“Good,” Zubac said Wednesday night when asked how he feels about his growing chemistry with new teammates.

But he admitted there are some warts.

“Still trying to figure out our defense… we’ve all got to be better.”
Zubac projects to be the starter at center for the Pacers next season, so any reps he got with other key players this season were important.

The Croatian big man played alongside Andrew Nembhard, who projects to start at shooting guard next season, twice and Aaron Nesmith, the starter at small forward, four times.

Just once did Zubac play with both Nesmith and Nembhard – a 101-92 loss against the New York Knicks.

The Pacers defense looked sharp that night but their offense left a lot to be desired.

Both Zubac and the team had to adjust to each other, and that was a work in progress before the big man’s rib injury.

Zubac ends the season with a poor on-court net rating, and the Pacers didn’t win any of the five games he appeared in.

They are in the midst of a 15-game losing streak.

With better health and stronger winning incentives next season, Indiana should be far more effective with their new big man on the court.

The Pacers didn’t get to see Zubac play with star forward Pascal Siakam this season, one of the biggest remaining sources of intrigue for the team in 2025-26.

Siakam is projected to return to the court from his knee injury before the season ends, and his fit alongside Zubac would have been a key point of evaluation.

Now, that will have to wait until next season – as will Zubac’s debut with superstar guard Tyrese Haliburton.

With Zubac out, the Pacers center rotation will be filled by Jay Huff and Micah Potter, the latter of which is dealing with a triceps injury right now.

If one of those two deals with foul trouble or other ailments, a combination of Obi Toppin, Kobe Brown, Jarace Walker, and Jalen Slawson would be the natural candidates for Indiana’s emergency center minutes.