Tyrese Haliburton has played in 65 games, but will he make All-NBA (and $50 million)?
INDIANAPOLIS -- Tyrese Haliburton said when he was working through his hamstring strain that he considered the 65-game requirement for postseason NBA honors to be a "stupid" rule, but the Pacers' All-Star point guard will meet its requirements.
Haliburton will play his 65th game of the season on Friday night against the Thunder, and even if something somehow goes catastrophically wrong for him in that game, it has been reported that the league would take into account that Haliburton led the Pacers to the In-Season Tournament finals, a game that did not count for either the Lakers or the Pacers. That means Haliburton is qualified to be on the All-NBA ballot, and if he earns one of the 15 spots on the three All-NBA teams, he unlocks all of the powers of his contract.
The five-year deal Haliburton signed in July takes effect next season and it will pay him 25% of the annual salary cap each year if he doesn't make an All-NBA team. If he does, that goes up to 30%. It's not clear exactly how much that will be as the cap changes on an annual basis but with a new TV contract coming, it's expected to go up substantially. It's estimated that Haliburton will make somewhere in the neighborhood of $206 million if he doesn't make All-NBA this season but nearly $260 million if he does.
So now that the eligibility question is taken care of, the one that remains is if Haliburton has had a good enough year to be a part of one of the three teams and considered one of the 15 best players in the NBA in 2023-24.
Haliburton obviously has a case for inclusion. He was an Eastern Conference All-Star starter, he leads the NBA in assists, he's already led the Pacers to their first winning season since 2019-20 with more opportunities still possible. He's arguably the best passing point guard in the NBA.
But the All-NBA team is position-less starting this season, so it doesn't matter where Haliburton ranks among guards, but where he ranks among the entire league. And of course, the league is as talented as it's ever been.
Now that Haliburton has crossed the 65-game threshold, it works in his favor as a number of the league's biggest starts dealt with injuries this season that kept them from meeting it. Among the stars` rendered ineligible are reigning MVP and Philadelphia big man Joel Embiid, Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell, Miami's Jimmy Butler, Atlanta's Trae Young, Dallas' Kyrie Irving, New York's Julius Randle, Minnesota's Karl Anthony Towns, Utah's Lauri Markkanen, Denver's Jamal Murray and Boston's Kristaps Porzingis.
Still, there are plenty of other superstars with whom Haliburton has to compete. Denver's Nikola Jokic, Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo, Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dallas' Luka Doncic are considered the frontrunners in the MVP race and therefore appear to be shoo-ins to be first-team All-NBA. Boston's Jayson Tatum and Minnesota's Anthony Edwards appear to be next in line, which means one will get the last first-team spot and the other will almost certainly be second team. It's not obvious whether future Hall-of-Famers Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James and Anthony Davis will be second- or third-teamers, but it's hard to imagine any of those five will be left out entirely.
With those 11 penciled in, there are just four spots still available. Here's a look at Haliburton's case and how it stacks up against the other players he'll be up against.
Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers point guard
Key stats: 20.4 ppg; 11.0 apg; 3.9 rpg; 1.2 spg; FG%: .476; 3FG%: .368; FT: .861. Net Rating: +6.0
Outlook: After earning his first All-Star nod in 2022-23 and being deemed a player-partner in the Pacers' franchise with his contract extension over the offseason, Haliburton helped Indiana make another leap in its accelerated rebuilding timeline in 2023-24. They are still in a seeding fight for postseason positioning in the season's final two weeks and they could find themselves in the play-in round, but they will finish with a winning record and in the Eastern Conference's top eight for the first time since 2019-20.
Haliburton helped carry the Pacers to the In-Season Tournament finals before they lost to the Lakers, earning a spot on the five-man All-IST Team with four likely Hall-of-Famers in LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant. He earned the most All-Star votes of any Eastern Conference guard and he spearheads the most explosive offense in the NBA. With Haliburton at the helm, the Pacers lead the NBA in scoring, assists and field goal percentage and they rank second to the Celtics -- the team with the NBA's best record -- in offensive rating and effective field goal percentage. That offense has made the Pacers one of the league's most dangerous teams. They have beaten every team in the Eastern Conference at least once including the Celtics twice, the No. 2 seed Bucks four times, and the Knicks Cavaliers and 76ers twice each.
Haliburton leads the NBA in assists and ranks sixth in the league with 42-double-doubles including one triple-double. His 41 points-assists double-doubles are the most in the NBA with Trae Young being the only other player in the league with more than 20. In consecutive December games against the Bulls and Knicks, he posted 20 and 23 assists and turned the ball over just twice in those games. He ranks third in the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio among players who have appeared in at least 65 games.
Haliburton's scoring, however, has taken a dip in the second half of the season, thanks to a hamstring strain in early January and a shooting slump since the All-Star break. Prior to his Jan. 8 injury, Haliburton scored at least 30 points in eight games and broke the 40-point barrier twice. He hasn't scored more than 27 in a game, however, since Jan. 3. Prior to the All-Star break, he averaged 21.8 points per game, making 49.2% of his field goals and 40.0% of his 3-point shots. In 21 games since the break, he's averaging 17.6 points per game, shooting 44.2% from the field and 30.0% from 3-point range. He's improved his 3-point shooting recently, but he made just 20 of his first 94 3s after the break, 21.3%. He's still averaging 9.6 assists since the break, but in that period teammate Pascal Siakam has become the Pacers' most reliable offensive weapon.
Jalen Brunson, Knicks point guard
Key Stats: 27.8 ppg, 6.6 apg, 3.6 rpg. FG%: .475. 3FG%: .397 FT%: .842. Net Rating: +8.1
Outlook: Haliburton and Brunson became close friends during the FIBA World Cup this offseason when Brunson started and Haliburton came off the bench for Team USA and they seem destined to be in constant competition for honors. Haliburton was the clear choice of fans and media at the All-Star break, but Brunson's consistency could lift him above Haliburton in All-NBA selection.
Brunson has had to keep the Knicks afloat despite injuries to All-Star power forward Julius Randle and wing O.G. Anunoby, a late-December trade acquisition who dramatically improved the Knicks' defense for 17 games before suffering an elbow injury that has mostly kept him out since. Acquiring Anunoby forced the Knicks to trade R.J. Barrett and Immanuel Quickley. Since Anunoby's injury, the only other double-figure scorers Brunson has had to work with have been fellow Villanova product Donte DiVincenzo and deadline addition Bojan Bogdanovic.
Still, Brunson has dutifully carried the Knicks, who are in fifth place in the East but just 2 1/2 games back of second and one back of third. He has been held to single-figure scoring just twice all season and to fewer than 20 points just 11 times while scoring 30 or more 29 times including two 50+ point outings and a 61-point effort against Sacramento on March 29. He doesn't quite have Haliburton's creation capability but he has posted double-figure assists six times.
Domantas Sabonis, Kings center
Key Stats: 19.6 ppg, 13.7 rpg; 8.3 apg; 0.9 spg; FG%: .599 3FG%: .383; FT%: .706. Net Rating: +0.6.
Outlook: The player the Kings acquired for Haliburton has made about as big of an impact in Sacramento as Haliburton has in Indiana as the win-win trade has done wonders for both teams. Sabonis leads the NBA in rebounding and he is in the midst of a record-breaking 57-game streak of double-doubles. He has 71 all told as well as an NBA-leading 26 triple-doubles.
Sabonis has failed to grab double-figure rebounds just six times all season, failed to score in double figures just twice and he's posted double-digit assists 29 times, a remarkable feet for a big man. He's on pace to post an effective field goal percentage over .600 for the second straight year and also to lead the Kings to the playoffs for the second straight year. They are eighth in the West, but just a half-game back of Phoenix for sixth.
Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics forward
Key Stats: 23.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.6 apg, 1.2 spg. FG%: .501. 3FG%: .358. FT%: .701. Net Rating: +9.8
Outlook: Brown's scoring numbers are slightly down from his All-NBA season last year, but his efficiency numbers are up as he's shooting better from the field and from 3-point range than he did last year and his effective field goal percentage is the highest of his career.
Perhaps more importantly to his All-NBA candidacy is that he's the second-best player on the team with the NBA's best record, a Celtics squad that has blown through the Eastern Conference and will finish with a double-figure wins advantage on whatever team finishes second. Brown has performed near Tatum's level all year, making sure opponents could only key on him so much, and he's had some massive individual performance in big games. He's scored 30 points or more in 16 games and cracked the 40-point barrier twice including once in a loss to the Pacers. Thanks in large part to his efforts, the Celtics lead the NBA in offensive rating and rank third in defensive rating, which is why they will be the only NBA team this season with 60 wins.
Tyrese Maxey, 76ers point guard
Key Stats: 25.6 ppg, 6.2 apg, 3.7 rpg, 1.0 spg,
Outlook: The early-season trade of James Harden forced the 23-year-old Maxey to step into the role as the 76ers' lead guard, pick-and-roll partner for Embiid and the 76ers' clear No. 2 scoring option behind the reigning MVP.
Maxey seemed perfectly prepared to make that leap and his rise was among the most noticeable in the league. He scored 30-plus points in each of the 76ers first two games and six times in the first 18, including a 50-point outburst against the Pacers in November. When Embiid tore his meniscus, Maxey had to become the No. 1 option and in the first game Embiid missed after the injury Maxey scored 51 points against the Jazz.
It was hard for Maxey to maintain his efficiency after that because the 76ers needed him to do so much to stay afloat in the playoff race. He's had to play more minutes, take more shots and deal with more defensive attention so his shooting numbers have gone down, but he's still averaged more than 25 points per game since the break. The 76ers have been under .500 since Embiid's injury, but Maxey has won them enough games to keep them in the eighth spot until Embiid's return on Tuesday.
Zion Williamson, Pelicans forward
Key Stats: 22.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 5.0 apg, 1.0 spg, FG%: .581. 3FG%: .357. FT%: .694. Net Rating: +2.4
Outlook: Five years after the Pelicans made Williamson the No. 1 overall pick out of Duke, it still doesn't feel like Williamson's potential has been anywhere near realized, but the fact that he's appeared in 65 games is a sign of progress in itself. It's just the second time he's played more than 60 games in a season and also just the second time he's played more than 30 games in a season.
But especially over the season's last two months, he's looked a lot like the dynamic talent that was promised with a combination of unheard-of muscle on a 6-6, 284-pound frame combined with dazzling footwork and ball skills. The Pelicans have even used him as a primary ball-handler at times, which has made him an extraordinarily difficult cover. He's nearly impossible to keep away from the rim and the paint, getting nearly 95% of his shots within 10 feet and shooting better than 71% within 3 feet. He's closing strong with 24.9 points per game on 60% shooting with 6.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game in his last 15 games.
Rudy Gobert, Timberwolves center
Key Stats: 13.7 ppg, 12.9 rpg, 2.1 bpg, FG%: .654. FT: 63.6%. Net Rating: +9.3.
Outlook: Gobert obviously doesn't score at nearly the level of the other All-NBA candidates and he's only attempted three 3-pointers all year, but he's efficient in what he does on offense and he's the most important piece on the NBA's best defense.
The Timberwolves lead the NBA in both fewest points allowed and defensive rating, which is why they're battling Denver and Oklahoma City for the No. 1 seed this year after entering last year's playoffs as the No. 8 seed and losing to eventual champion Denver in the first round. Gobert is the backbone of that defense, ranking sixth in the league in blocks and second behind Sabonis in rebounding. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year and four-time All-NBA pick has had the exact kind of season that has won the award for him in the past and has done it for a team that has needed it even more.
Paolo Banchero, Magic forward
Key Stats: 22.4 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 5.3 apg, FG%: .461 3FG%: .351 FT%: .713. Net Rating: +0.5.
Outlook: The No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft earned Rookie of the Year honors last year and took another leap this year, becoming the most important player on a team on its way back to the playoffs. He's become the Magic's go-to-scorer having not been held to single-digit scoring since November with 10 30+-point games. At 6-10, 250-pounds with range beyond the arc and the ability to bring the ball up the floor, he is the prototype of the new NBA power forward and he stands out on a team with a ton of size at every position. The Magic are not only headed to the playoffs, they head into the season's final 10 days with a chance at getting a top four seed.
Devin Booker, Suns guard
Key Stats: 27.6 ppg, 6.9 apg, 4.7 rpg. FG%: .497. 3FG%: .372 FT%: .883. Net Rating: +5.8.
Outlook: Booker still needs to play three more games to reach the 65-game threshold, but there are enough games left and the Suns are in a fight to stay out of the play-in round so there's every reason to believe he'll get there.
With the Suns in sixth and Durant likely to be one of the 15, Booker has a tough case to make to also be included. That said, his numbers are similar to the ones he had in 2021-22 when he finished fourth in the MVP balloting and was first-team All-NBA. He's making fewer 3s at a slightly lower clip, but his scoring average, field goal percentage and effective field goal percentage are all higher and his assists are significantly higher. There is no pure 2 guard in the league more capable of explosive outings, as Booker has scored at least 30 points 24 times this year, cracking the 40-point mark seven times and the 50-point mark three with 62 being his season-high.
De'Aaron Fox, Kings guard
Key Stats: 26.4 ppg, 5.7 apg, 4.6 rpg, FG%: .462. 3FG%: .363. FT%: .738. 2.0 spg Net Rating: +4.0
Outlook: Haliburton's former backcourt mate keeps taking steady steps with his game as the Kings' lead guard as he and Sabonis have developed one of the best point guard-center combinations in the NBA. Fox has become a more explosive scorer with 23 30+-point outings. He's as good of a creator as ever and his 2.0 steals per game put him second only to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, which makes him one of the best two-way point guards in the league.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Tyrese Haliburton faces tough competition for All-NBA nod
