Tyrese Haliburton Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: Green, J. Jones, Lee, Sabonis, Kings

December 2nd, 2022 at 12:18pm CST by Luke Adams

Draymond Green is on a potential expiring contract, so his NBA future beyond this season remains up in the air. However, he made it clear in a conversation with Marc J. Spears of Andscape that he doesn’t take his lengthy tenure with the Warriors for granted and appreciates that he has gotten to play alongside Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson since entering the league.

“It’s incredible when you look at the amount of guys who’ve played for only one team,” Green said. “You can look around the NBA right now. There are five guys that’s been on a team for 11 years-plus. We have three of them. It’s a very rare thing. There’s 470, 480 players in the NBA? There are five guys that’s been with his team for 11 years plus. That’s amazing. So, you don’t just give that away.”

Green went on to say that, while he recognizes the NBA is business, he’d “absolutely” be interested in spending the rest of his career in Golden State. The four-time All-Star, who has a player option for 2023/24, said he’d let agent Rich Paul handle his contract situation, but added that he’d like to play for four or five more seasons before calling it a career.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

Having been promoted to president of basketball operations by the Suns, James Jones expects to step away from some of the day-to-day aspects of running the team and delegate more of those tasks as he focuses on bigger-picture goals, per Gerald Bourguet of GoPhnx.com. Jones said this week that there are no plans to hire a general manager to work under him in the front office hierarchy, but he also didn’t rule out that possibility down the road.
In a separate story for GoPhnx.com, Bourguet examines how offseason signee Damion Lee became such an important part of the Suns‘ second unit. Lee, who is making a career-best 49.4% of his three-point attempts so far this season, is only on a one-year contract, so he’ll return to the open market next summer.
Speaking to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, Kings center Domantas Sabonis said that he and point guard De’Aaron Fox are on the same page on and off the court, with the two stars determined to snap Sacramento’s 16-year playoff drought. “Fox is unselfish, I’m unselfish. I love to play in the pick-and-roll, he loves to play in the pick-and-roll. We want to show people that we can win, and win consistently, apart from everything that goes on in the NBA,” Sabonis said. “I think that’s the most important thing, is to show that we can turn this franchise around.”
Returning to Sacramento for the first time since being traded from the Kings to the Pacers, Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield got wildly different receptions on Wednesday, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. Haliburton, who was caught off guard and upset when he was traded last season, received a standing ovation; Hield, who made it clear before being traded that he’d welcome a change of scenery, was met with boos. Hield was unfazed by the crowd’s reaction, as Dopirak relays. “I didn’t give a (expletive),” he said. “I go to sleep happy and I make a lot of money.”

Pacers Notes: Turner, Hield, Nembhard, Haliburton

November 29th, 2022 at 1:55pm CST by Arthur Hill

Lakers fans offered loud cheers Monday night for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield, two Pacers veterans who have been rumored as L.A. trade targets for several months, writes Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. The Lakers rejected the potential swap because of Indiana’s insistence on getting unprotected first-round picks in 2027 and 2029, but the rumors haven’t died down.

Both players made an impression on Monday as the Pacers pulled out a win on a last-second shot. Turner, whose upcoming free agency both makes him a trade candidate and complicates his value, had 15 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots. Hield, who has one year left on his contract at $18.6MM, also had 15 points, although he was just 1-of-6 from three-point range.

“It’s been great to be with those guys,” coach Rick Carlisle told reporters on Monday. “I can see where people would have interest in them. I have a lot of interest in not trading them, you know?”

If the Lakers revisit the deal with Indiana, it may not happen for a while, Goon adds. L.A. has several players who can’t be moved until December 15, and a Monday report from ESPN indicated that the type of trade the Lakers are hoping to make may not be available until January.

Here’s more on the Pacers:

Carlisle believes the franchise got a draft steal in Andrew Nembhard, who hit the game-winning shot on Monday. Nembhard, who was taken with the first pick in the second round, has earned a rotation role and is averaging 7.1 PPG in 20.7 minutes per night. “He’ll go down as a top-12 or (top-)15 pick in this draft when it’s all said and done,” Carlisle said (Twitter video link from Alex Golden). “It’s where he should have been taken.”
In a discussion for The Athletic, Anthony Slater and Sam Amick revisit the Tyrese Haliburton/Domantas Sabonis deal from last season’s trade deadline. While Slater and Amick acknowledge that there’s some nuance involved when reevaluating the trade, they point to the Kings‘ and Pacers’ success so far this season and suggest it could end up as a win-win. Haliburton has been playing some of the best basketball of his career as of late, having become the first player since the NBA began tracking turnovers in 1977 to record at least 40 assists without a turnover over a three-game span (Twitter link).
Within that same Athletic story, Amick writes that a number of people around the NBA believe the Pacers’ desire to continue tearing down their roster “just isn’t as strong as advertised.” Team owner Herb Simon has long been averse to tanking, so if Indiana stays competitive, the odds of the team trading away key veteran contributors before the deadline seem likely to decline.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Central Notes: Haliburton, Mobley, Allen, Bogdanovic

November 26th, 2022 at 8:48pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Pacers were expected to be one of the NBA’s worst teams before the season began, but they’re fourth in the East after 18 games, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. The turnaround that led to the 11-7 start began in February with a trade that brought Tyrese Haliburton from the Kings. The electrifying 22-year-old guard quickly took charge of his new team.

“He immediately saw the opportunity to be the leader of a franchise,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “He never looked at if it was just his thing just by virtue of being here. He knew he had to do the right things, put the work in, not skip steps. He’s done everything we could have asked. … Haliburton has been a godsend for this franchise.”

Haliburton is putting up numbers that should have him in contention for an All-Star berth with 19.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and a league-leading 11.1 assists per game. He’s creating good shots for his teammates, and he’s running the show with a relaxed demeanor that keeps everyone at ease.

“There’s a lot of authentic people in this room,” Haliburton said. “And a lot of people who feel like we have something to prove. We don’t come with a lot of egos. We’re a lot of young guys who feel like we have a lot to prove to ourselves and others and understanding the best way for us to prove anything is to win. And obviously guys have a chip on our shoulder. Every major writer in America, it feels like, put us 15th in the East and 30th in the NBA.”

There’s more from the Central Division:

Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo paid a huge compliment to Cavaliers second-year big man Evan Mobley after their meeting Friday night, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. The two-time MVP suggested that Mobley might eventually be a better player than him. “I didn’t average what he is in my second season, so he’s already ahead of me,” Antetokounmpo said. “It’s in his hands. If he stays humble, continues to work hard, focuses on the game and shows love to the game of basketball, he is going to be really good.”
Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game with a low back contusion, tweets Kelsey Russo of The Athletic. Allen landed hard after attempting to block a shot in the first quarter Friday and was eventually ruled out.
Pistons forward Bojan Bogdanovic appears to have avoided a serious injury after a collision on Friday (Twitter video link from Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic). Bogdanovic is listed as questionable for Sunday with knee and ankle soreness, tweets Keith Langlois of NBA.com

De’Aaron Fox, Tyrese Haliburton Named Players Of The Week

November 21st, 2022 at 2:44pm CST by Rory Maher

Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox and Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton have been named the NBA’s players of the week, the league announced today (via Twitter).

Fox, the Western Conference winner, led Sacramento to a 3-0 week while averaging 25.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 8.0 assists on .600/.417/.889 shooting. Through 14 games for the 9-6 Kings, Fox is averaging career highs of 25.4 points and 4.8 rebounds, plus 6.4 assists and 1.1 steals, along with a career-best shooting line of .558/.382/.845.

Fox’s former teammate Haliburton, the winner in the East, led Indiana to a 3-0 week while averaging 21.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 11.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.0 block on .532/.320/.833 shooting. The 22-year-old is having a breakout third season for the 9-6 Pacers, averaging career highs of 20.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, a league-leading 10.5 assists and 1.9 steals on a sparkling .493/.403/.854 shooting line.

According to the NBA (Twitter link), the other nominees in the West were Devin Booker, Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, while Bradley Beal, Darius Garland, Myles Turner and Franz Wagner were nominated in the East.

Grizzlies’ Morant, Pacers’ Haliburton Suffer Ankle Injuries

November 19th, 2022 at 6:52am CST by Rory Maher

NOVEMBER 19: There’s some hope that neither Morant’s ankle injury nor Haliburton’s is a significant one.

As Mark Giannotto of The Memphis Commercial Appeal relays, Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke expressed optimism about whether he’d seen Morant in the locker room after the game: “He was walking. I don’t know how serious it is … It doesn’t sound super serious.”

In Houston, Haliburton told reporters – including Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star – that he isn’t overly concerned about his own ankle injury: “It feels all right right now. It’s the same ankle that I hurt against Toronto (last Saturday). I think it’s more precautionary than anything. We’ll see how it feels in the morning.”

It seems likely that Morant will miss some time, and Haliburton might too, but hopefully neither injury is one that will require a star point guard to be sidelined for a big chunk of the season.

NOVEMBER 18: A pair of rising guards suffered injuries late in the fourth quarter of victories and had to be helped off the court on Friday night.

Grizzlies star Ja Morant turned his left ankle in Friday’s win over the Thunder, per Mark Giannotto of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. According to Lang Whitaker of Grind City Media (Twitter link), head coach Taylor Jenkins said Morant “tweaked” the ankle and there will be an update on his status Saturday.

As Tim MacMahon of ESPN notes (via Twitter), Morant missed Sunday’s game against the Wizards after injuring the same ankle last week. Through 13 games, he’s averaging 29.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 1.2 steals for the Grizzlies.

Point guard Tyrese Haliburton also suffered a lower leg injury with less than a minute left in the Pacers‘ victory over Houston, tweets Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. It appeared as though Rockets big man Usman Garuba may have landed on Haliburton’s foot or ankle after contesting his layup.

Through 13 games in his first full season in Indiana, Haliburton is averaging 20.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, a league-leading 10.4 assists and 1.9 steals. The Pacers have been a pleasant surprise early on in the 2022/23 season, currently holding an 8-6 record.

Pacers’ Haliburton, Mathurin Reflect On Chemistry, Carlisle, NBA Draft

November 12th, 2022 at 3:30pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Pacers guards Tyrese Haliburton and rookie Bennedict Mathurin spoke at length with Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer about their chemistry during Indiana’s surprisingly solid 5-6 start to the 2022/23 NBA season, Mathurin’s willingness to be coached up, how they may have been overlooked in their drafts, and much more.

Haliburton was selected with the No. 12 pick in 2020 out of Iowa State, and Mathurin was drafted sixth overall this June out of Arizona.

The 6’5″ Haliburton is averaging a career-best 21.6 PPG, 9.9 APG, 4.6 RPG and 1.8 APG this year for the Pacers. The 6’6″ Mathurin is averaging 20.4 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 2.2 APG. That scoring average ranks Mathurin behind just No. 1 pick Paolo Banchero‘s 23.5 PPG among rookies.

The full conversation is well worth a read, as is par for the course when it comes to O’Connor. Here are some highlights.

On their quick chemistry:

“We play off each other well,” Haliburton said. “I think his game complements mine in the sense of, I play a lot of spread pick-and-roll where I’m attacking downhill or getting the floater, but also facilitating out of it. When teams have to tag on the big or come over to help on me, I can give it to him on the second side. He’s such a downhill force getting to the cup and scoring the basketball, he’s really hard to guard on the second side of actions. So, I think naturally, it just is a good fit.”

“A player like Ty, he is really good with the ball in his hands, so I don’t need to have the ball as much in my hands,” Mathurin added. “I’m trying to do the stuff, cutting and just the other stuff, just so we can just be great on the court together.”

On Mathurin’s stated desire to improve his game with the help of head coach Rick Carlisle:

“We had practice yesterday, and then I wasn’t going too hard, and I told him, ‘I don’t take anything personal,'” Mathurin said. “‘If I don’t do this right, just tell me,” and I feel like today, he made sure he was on me a little bit. He told me to run harder and to do stuff at a good pace.”

“He’s the only guy I’ve ever seen watch film with the head coach in the back of the plane,” Haliburton said of Mathurin. “He’ll watch all of his. I watch film with our video guys and stuff. He goes back there with Coach and watches his film after games, good or bad. And that just shows he’s hungry, wants to get after it. You don’t see guys in the NBA do that. We’re young guys and we both just want to be great. But you see the hunger that he has.”

Haliburton on how the two Pacers guards may have been undervalued in their respective drafts:

“Talent evaluation’s not easy. And there’s misses… You can’t evaluate the willingness to get better. You can’t evaluate their growth in IQ, their want to learn, their want to be coached hard. You can’t evaluate those things. So there’s so much more that goes into it that you can ask all the questions you want. You can go ask somebody’s college coach, you can go ask their parents. You can go ask whatever you want. They’re going to lie. Of course they’re going to lie. They want their guy to get drafted higher. Definitely there’s guys that got drafted ahead of me, I know I’m better right now. I knew I was better than at the time. I know [Mathurin] feels the same way right now.”

Central Notes: Haliburton, Turner, Bogdanovic, Green

November 1st, 2022 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

When the Pacers attempted to recruit Deandre Ayton in free agency this past offseason, Tyrese Haliburton traveled to Santa Barbara, California with president Kevin Pritchard, general manager Chad Buchanan, and head coach Rick Carlisle to be part of the team’s pitch to the Suns center.

Indiana’s four-year, maximum-salary offer sheet for Ayton was ultimately matched by Phoenix, but Haliburton said it “meant a lot” that the club included him in its recruitment of the former No. 1 pick, writes Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports. As Fischer details, it’s part of the Pacers’ plan to give the third-year guard the reins during the team’s rebuilding process.

“He is the franchise guy, very, very openly,” one rival executive told Fischer, referring to Haliburton. “They have handed him the keys, and they’re betting he can be their alpha guy.”

Here’s more from around the Central:

After sharing his thoughts on a possible trade to the Lakers, Pacers center Myles Turner wanted to make clear during a conversation with Michael Scotto of HoopsHype that he’s still committed to his current team. “I’m excited about what we have here in Indiana,” Turner said. “I understand that some of the things I might’ve said in that podcast (with Adrian Wojnarowski) could’ve gotten misconstrued answering hypothetical questions. This isn’t a hypothetical. I’m here in Indiana. I’ve got real estate in Indiana. I’ve got a fan section in our own arena. I’m a Pacer. I’ve been a Pacer my entire career. I can’t tell the future, but where I’m at right now, I’m very happy.”
Given how much projected 2023 cap room they had, the Pistons essentially did some offseason shopping early by extending Bojan Bogdanovic, writes Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (subscription required). Sankofa likes the decision to lock up Bogdanovic, noting that he’s exactly the type of player Detroit’s roster needed.
Bucks rookie guard A.J. Green is expected to be sidelined for about three weeks due to a nasal fracture, the team announced today in a press release. Green, who underwent surgery to repair the fracture, is on a two-way contract with Milwaukee and has just appeared briefly in one game so far this season.

Pacific Notes: Fox, Crowder, Booker, Klay, Wiggins

October 26th, 2022 at 2:53pm CST by Luke Adams

Appearing on The Draymond Green Show, Kings guard De’Aaron Fox recounted his reaction to the news that Sacramento had traded Tyrese Haliburton to Indiana at last season’s deadline, explaining that he viewed the deal as a strong message from his team.

“For me, it’s like yo, they believe in me,” Fox said, per Ajayi Browne of Slam Online. “But two, it’s like motherf—-r, we just traded somebody who could be a franchise point guard either here or somewhere else. So, you better get on your s–t; you better start winning.”

The Kings received plenty of outside criticism for their decision to trade a rising star like Haliburton in his second NBA season, but Fox is determined to prove that the Kings made the right move by handing him the undisputed reins at point guard.

“Does it add pressure? Yeah, a little bit,” Fox said. “But, at the end of the day, I’ve been trying to get us in the playoffs for years, so it’s a little added pressure. It ain’t hurt anybody.”

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter video link), Suns forward Jae Crowder pushed back against the idea that he demanded a trade because he was told he wouldn’t be a starter. “I do not want to get into the details just yet,” Crowder said, as Haynes relayed during a TNT appearance. “But it’s definitely not true, the narrative being pushed about me not starting or not, I can honestly say that.”
Asked about his impressions of Devin Booker so far this season, head coach Monty Williams described the Suns‘ star guard as “probably the most complete player in the league right now” (Twitter link via Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports). Booker has averaged 32.5 PPG on .530/.480/.882 shooting through four games (38.8 MPG).
Williams’ comments on Booker came after a Suns victory over the Warriors in which sharpshooter Klay Thompson was ejected for the first time in his NBA career. Kendra Andrews of ESPN has the story on the chippy game between two Pacific rivals, Thompson’s first ejection, and Booker’s account of what Klay was saying to him before he left the floor: “They have four rings, repeated over and over.”
In a conversation with Mark Medina of NBA.com, Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins explained that he took a pay cut on his new four-year, $109MM extension with Golden State because he didn’t want to leave a “winning organization” that treats him well. Wiggins’ goal is to eventually join teammates like Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green, and Stephen Curry as “Bay Area legends,” he told Medina: “Hopefully by the time I’m done, people will look at me like that. I just have to keep putting in the work and accomplish what they have accomplished.”

And-Ones: Breakout Candidates, Wembanyama, Thornwell

October 21st, 2022 at 12:36pm CST by Luke Adams

Michael Scotto of HoopsHype polled 20 NBA executives on their top three breakout candidates for the 2022/23 season and found that Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey was the most popular pick. While I’d argue that last season represented a breakout year for Maxey, some executives have far higher expectations for him going forward.

“Maxey’s going to be better than James Harden,” one general manager said to Scotto. “He just keeps getting better and better and will be a huge reason why they have success this season.”

Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, Magic forward Franz Wagner, and Rockets guard Jalen Green were among the other popular breakout picks, based on the responses Scotto got from executives. Interestingly, Warriors big man James Wiseman and Pistons forward/center Marvin Bagley III were each picked as this year’s top breakout candidate by one GM.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

In his latest look at the top prospects in the 2023 NBA draft class, David Aldridge of The Athletic passes along several entertaining quotes from NBA executives, including one Eastern Conference exec’s response to whether Scoot Henderson could surpass Victor Wembanyama as next year’s No. 1 pick: “Scoot’s good, but, no. Short of Wembanyama having murdered somebody, there’s just no way.”
Veteran guard Sindarius Thornwell has signed with Frutti Extra Bursasport, the Turkish team announced this week (via Twitter). Thornwell has appeared in 160 total NBA games and played for New Orleans and Atlanta in 2020/21, but wasn’t in the league last season.
Longtime NBA referee Tony Brown, who officiated over 1,100 games, including one in the 2020 NBA Finals, passed away on Thursday after a fight with pancreatic cancer, according to his family (story via ESPN.com).

Central Notes: Murphy, Garland, Oguche, Haliburton

October 20th, 2022 at 9:16pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Pistons assistant general manager Rob Murphy has been put on leave as the organization investigates an allegation of workplace misconduct regarding a former female employee, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports. Murphy’s leave began approximately a week ago.

Murphy was hired as an assistant GM this offseason after serving as the Pistons’ G League president and general manager since March 2021. He had spent the previous two decades as a college coach, including 10 years at Eastern Michigan as its head coach.

We have more from the Central Division:

Cavaliers guard Darius Garland, who suffered a left eyelid laceration in Wednesday’s loss to the Raptors, was examined at the Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute, according to Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Garland has no structural damage and will not need surgery. He will be re-evaluated over the next couple of days, Fedor adds in a tweet.
The Cavaliers and Rock Entertainment Group have named Susan Oguche as their Executive VP and Chief Communications Officer, Marc J. Spears of ESPN tweets.
Tyrese Haliburton wants to establish himself as one of the league’s top guards, he told Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. “Being an All-Star would be amazing,” the Pacers guard said. “I obviously would want to play on a championship team. But it would be exciting for me to be an All-Star. It would mean a lot to me and my family.”