Team: Indiana Pacers · PF/C · Age 28 · Base role: 10-minute transition forward, mostly at the four
Projection card
| GP | MPG | 3PM | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | FG% | FT% | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 64 | 14.0 | 1.2 | 9.2 | 3.5 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 0.2 | .540 | .750 | 0.6 |
Nine-category: top 175-235 per game on threes and FG% with low turnovers, still on thin volume. Points: top 180-240. Dynasty: top 220-300.
Why the line looks like this
Toppin played only 24 games after a right foot stress fracture cost him 55 contests. He returned for the final 21 and averaged 11.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.5 threes in 17.7 minutes, on better than 50% FG and 35.2% from three. Haliburton restores his best transition partner, but Zubac, Siakam, Walker and Huff constrain frontcourt minutes. The card scales his observed per-minute rates to 14 minutes rather than discounting them further: the minutes are the constraint here, not the shooting. Pacers player review
Correction 2026-07-18: the prior card projected 0.8 threes and 7.6 points at 16 minutes, which cut his three-point rate by 47% and his per-36 scoring from 23.6 to 17.1 with no stated mechanism, in the season his best transition partner returns. Rates are now scaled straight from the 2025-26 baseline; minutes drop 16 to 14 because the center-column rebalance moved six of his small-ball five minutes to Huff. Net effect is more threes and points on slightly fewer minutes. ESPN game log
Hashtag's crowd ranked him 129th, much higher than this minutes-based projection. That price needs closer to 22 minutes or an injury ahead of him. Hashtag crowd
Redraft, dynasty, and scenarios
- Redraft: waiver-first in 12-team leagues; draft only in deep points formats that reward efficient scoring.
- Dynasty: hold in deep leagues because the contract and Haliburton fit protect a rotation role, but sell any top-150 offer.
- Floor: recurring foot management and 12 minutes.
- Ceiling: 22-24 minutes after a Siakam/Zubac absence, producing 12 points, 5 boards and 1.3 threes.
Confidence
| Roster | Minutes | Rates | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | Medium | High | Medium-low |
Career record
Pre-NBA: Dayton (Atlantic 10). As a redshirt sophomore in 2019-20 he averaged 20.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.2 blocks and 1.0 steals on 63.3% from the field and 39% from three, and swept the national player of the year awards — Naismith, Wooden, AP, NABC and Oscar Robertson. Draft: 2020, first round, 8th pick, New York.
| Season | Age | Team | GP | MPG | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | 3PM | FG% | FT% | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | 22 | NYK | 62 | 11.0 | 4.1 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.4 | .498 | .731 | 0.4 |
| 2021-22 | 23 | NYK | 72 | 17.1 | 9.0 | 3.7 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.7 | .531 | .758 | 0.8 |
| 2022-23 | 24 | NYK | 67 | 15.7 | 7.4 | 2.8 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 1.3 | .446 | .809 | 0.6 |
| 2023-24 | 25 | IND | 82 | 21.1 | 10.3 | 3.9 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 1.2 | .573 | .770 | 0.8 |
| 2024-25 | 26 | IND | 79 | 19.6 | 10.5 | 4.0 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.4 | .529 | .781 | 0.9 |
| 2025-26 | 27 | IND | 24 | 17.7 | 11.6 | 4.4 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.5 | .503 | .913 | 1.2 |
| Career | 386 | 17.3 | 8.7 | 3.5 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 1.1 | .521 | .786 | 0.7 |
The 0.0 blocks in 2025-26 is literal — no blocked shots in 24 games, verified against two sources.
Durability: 62, 72, 67, 82, 79, then 24. The 2025-26 season is the only real interruption: a right foot stress fracture wiped out the bulk of it, and he appeared in 24 of 82 games. Everything before that was a durable player who missed games to rotation choices rather than health.
Trajectory: Six seasons of the same player, at rising efficiency — a transition finisher and corner shooter who has never taken on-ball responsibility and has never guarded well enough to hold a starting job. Indiana got the best version in 2023-24 and 2024-25 at roughly 20 minutes and 10 points on 55%-plus shooting. The 24-game 2025-26 sample was actually his most productive per-minute season, with a career-high 8.3 attempts and 2.3 assists, but it is 24 games off a stress fracture and should not be treated as a new baseline. He is the backup four in 2026-27 behind Siakam with Huff taking small-ball five minutes; he needs a Siakam or Zubac absence to reach the 22-24 minutes that would make him a standard-league hold.
Career sources: ESPN career stats · StatMuse 2025-26 season averages · Wikipedia · ESPN — Toppin wins Wooden Award
Open questions
- Is Toppin fully unrestricted after the foot stress fracture?
- How often does Indiana close small with Toppin rather than Huff behind Zubac?