Tyrese Haliburton wasn’t at all shy about using the Pacers’ In-Season Tournament run as part of a recruiting sales pitch.
The Pacers All-Star point guard put the word out with someone he knew would spread it — ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski — and spread it he did. The day after Haliburton dropped 27 points and 15 assists on the Bucks in the IST semifinals to advance to play the Lakers in the championship, Wojnarowski noted on air a conversation he had with Haliburton about making pitches to other stars and that served as a centerpiece for an eight-minute segment that was essentially a Pacers advertisement.
“Tyrese Haliburton said this to me on the eve of this final four, which is, ‘I am trying to tell players in this league, you’ll want to come play with me, I’m going to get you the ball, I’m going to make it easy for you, and we’re gonna win,'” Wojnarowski said. “What he is doing for this Indiana organization now is allowing their president Kevin Pritchard to be able to try to go find his Robin. When they traded for him, they weren’t quite sure if he was a Batman or a Robin. This is a Batman in the NBA.”
Wojnarowski got more specific, saying that the Pacers could use a big wing who could score and defend, which would put them in the market for Toronto’s Pascal Siakam and/or O.G. Anunoby. He said Haliburton’s recruiting and unselfish style of play give the Pacers reason to believe that if they make a trade for an All-Star caliber player, they’ll have a chance to re-sign such a player and not immediately lose them to free agency.
“Yeah, ultimately it’s trust your eyes, trust what’s in front of you,” Haliburton said after the loss to the Lakers. “I think people see how we play and how fun it looks and think I’m a player that people want to play with. So at the end of the day, I can help and I talk to guys and everybody talked about (Team USA in the FIBA World Cup) and the constant recruiting that goes within USA and stuff like that, but my job is just to play basketball. If guys want to come play in Indy, I’mma be here. I’m waiting whenever guys want to come.”
But at the end he also countered himself just slightly. For 23 years old, Haliburton is a wise basketball diplomat, and he wanted to make sure his desire to attract talent didn’t also come off as dissatisfaction with the current roster.
“We’ve got a great group of guys in our locker room as we speak and I’m focused on that right now,” Haliburton said. “It’s the NBA, there’s a lot of moving parts, but I’m focused on the guys in our locker room right now and continuing on with the season.”
And in that aside, Haliburton spoke to the conundrum the Pacers face.
They are ahead of schedule on their rebuild, but Haliburton’s play and the fact they lead the NBA in scoring and offensive rating gives them reason to believe they can accelerate it dramatically. The roster they have now appears capable of making the playoffs and they’ve already proven that on a given night they can beat anyone in the East, having already defeated conference favorites Boston, Milwaukee and Philadelphia. However winning enough to claim a top four seed in the East or taking down one of those teams in a best-of-seven series requires more. It’s clear they need to improve their overall talent level and that they desperately need to get better on defense, ranking 29th in the NBA in points allowed and 28th in defensive rating.
But even though they need upgrades, they don’t have a hole in their roster, they have faith in all 14 of their full-time players and going big for a star player in a trade in February will certainly cost them a player they have that they like. Few teams are as well positioned to make a deal:
>>They have a roster spot open.
>>They have about $9.6 million worth of cap space this season to absorb salary in a deal.
>>They haven’t traded away any of their future first-round picks and they have additional draft assets beyond that.
However, league-wide faith in the depth of the upcoming draft is low and as the Pacers get better, their draft picks become less valuable. They’ve picked in the top eight the last two seasons, but obviously becoming a playoff team would take them out of the lottery.
That means they have to make some value judgments with some current players, and they will not be easy ones. Haliburton is the sun around which everyone else on the roster orbits, so he’s obviously off-limits to trade discussions. But if they want to swing big for an All-NBA caliber player like Siakam, everyone else has to be on the table.
Could the Pacers trade Bennedict Mathurin?
Bennedict Mathurin would certainly be the most valuable trade chip as a 21-year-old coming off a first-team All-Rookie season, and he’d be a great addition for teams looking to blow up veteran rosters and rebuild. He’s had some struggles in his second year, but he still has exceptional strength, athleticism and skill as a driver and finisher around the rim. His 30-point, eight-assist effort in Monday’s win over the Pistons was a reminder that of anyone currently on the roster, he has the best chance of developing into the sort of “Robin” Wojnarowski mentioned. The Pacers have reason to be concerned that he will never be able to do that consistently, and that he simply doesn’t fit with the Pacers’ current style of play so it’s best to sell high. But if they move him, he has the best chance to make them kick themselves in the long term.
Could the Pacers trade Myles Turner or Buddy Hield?
Center Myles Turner and wing Buddy Hield are much closer to their ceilings, so if the Pacers moved one or both of them in a deal they would have a pretty good sense of what they would be losing. However both have been excellent fits with Haliburton. Turner works excellently as a ball screen partner for Haliburton because he’s a tough guard whether rolling or popping off the screen.
Hield is one of the 30 most prolific 3-point shooters of all time. He and Haliburton have excellent chemistry and he demands attention that keeps the middle of the floor open for Haliburton and Turner to operate. He’s not a great defender, he ultimately takes minutes away from Mathurin, and the Pacers could find a much better two-way player for his position, but they might not be able to get a better shooter. Hield and Turner are each making around $20 million this year — Hield is in the final year of his contract and Turner is in the first year of a two-year extension — so their contracts would be helpful in making the money work, but the Pacers also have reason to consider paying both to stick around beyond their current deals.
Could Pacers trade Andrew Nembhard?
Those three are arguably the Pacers’ most valuable trade pieces, but there are others teams could find intriguing. Second-year guard Andrew Nembhard was a steal as a second-round pick in 2022 and he’s been one of the Pacers’ best perimeter defenders, but he’s stuck as a backup behind Haliburton at point guard. The Pacers can afford to move him with veteran T.J. McConnell as another backup point guard option, but he obviously has a lot of room to grow and the Pacers would like to see him do it with them.
New additions Bruce Brown and Obi Toppin are both averaging career scoring highs and have largely done what they were brought to Indiana to do. Brown has a club option on his two-year deal and Toppin is a free agent after this season. The Pacers have to decide if they’d be willing to part with either.
They have two young bigs in Jalen Smith and Isaiah Jackson who other teams could find intriguing and they also have rookie Jarace Walker who hasn’t seen much playing time in his first season. Others might be interested in giving him more of an immediate opportunity.
None of those are pieces the Pacers would like to part with. But if the Pacers want to swing big and do it before free agency in July, they have until February to decide who they’re wiling to give up and what it would cost.
Gregory Daniels is your guide to the latest trends, viral sensations, and internet phenomena. With a finger on the pulse of digital culture, he explores what’s trending across social media and pop culture. Gregory enjoys staying ahead of the curve and sharing emerging trends with his readers.
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