The Indiana Pacers became one of the NBA’s best and brightest young teams during the 2023-24 season thanks to the emergence of guard Tyrese Haliburton as a bona fide star.
He directed one of the best transition games in the league, and as a result, Indiana led the league in points, assists and field goal percentage while ranking second in offensive rating.
They acquired Haliburton in a trade with the Sacramento Kings during the 2021-22 season, and it was one of those rare trades that helped both teams, with the Kings landing star big man Domantas Sabonis.
Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan said the team went after Haliburton in order to execute head coach Rick Carlisle’s vision of playing an up-tempo, free-flowing offense, and that Haliburton’s unselfishness has resulted in his teammates playing harder on offense, per SiriusXM NBA Radio.
“Once we got him, immediately we changed the identity of how we played,” Buchanan said.
“Once we got him, immediately we changed the identity of how we played”
Pacers GM Chad Buchanan talks about Tyrese Haliburton’s impact on the organization with @TheFrankIsola and Ryan McDonough
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This past season, the Pacers got off to a somewhat shaky start, but in mid-January, they traded for Pascal Siakam, a former All-Star forward.
Indiana finished with a 47-35 record, and despite finishing as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, the Pacers survived a contentious second-round series against the New York Knicks that went the limit to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
There, they got swept by the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics after blowing a golden opportunity to steal Game 1 on the road.
The bad news for Indiana is that the rest of the Eastern Conference has gotten better this offseason, but the good news is it will have a full training camp with Siakam in the fold.
He recently received a max contract extension and will look to help the Pacers take the next step this coming season.
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