The Indiana Pacers made a big trade right before the NBA trade deadline. Acquiring Tyrese Haliburton looks to be the centerpiece of more roster shakeups to happen in the near future.
Tyrese Haliburton has been with the Indiana Pacers for 23 games since the trade took place. How has he performed up to this point?
Although the Pacers have had Tyrese Haliburton for just over twenty games, they have only won six of those games. Obviously, there are many factors for that like injuries and personnel changes making things difficult for the players to succeed.
Haliburton has excelled in the facilitating role with Malcolm Brogdon likely out for the rest of the season. What’s crazier, he scored 16 assists in just his second game with the team while scoring 22 points against the Timberwolves.
In Monday’s loss to the Hawks, he scored 25 points, 13 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, and was 4/9 from deep (44.4%). This was his 9th double-digit assist game since joining the Pacers.
Then, in the Pacers’ most recent performance Haliburton notches his 10th double-digit assist game since joining the Pacers. He scored 15 points and 12 rebounds against the Denver Nuggets along with 4 steals. He leads the Pacers in steals per game with an average of 1.9.
He was able to do notch those 10+ assists games in just 21 contests with the team. For reference, he did this 16 times in 51 games with the Kings this season. In his last 5 games played, he has scored 60 assists with only 9 turnovers made. That seems good.
Flash forward to now, and Haliburton’s facilitating ability continues to be on full display. He has 10 or more assists in 5 of his last 10 games, the most recent being against the Detroit Pistons.
He scored 19 points and 17 assists (ties career-high) while grabbing 9 rebounds in the Pacers’ loss this Sunday. Now he is the first player with multiple 15 AST, 0 TOV games before turning 23 since the 3pt era (1980), per Statmuse.
Here’s just one example of his court vision and timing after reading the defense’s reaction.
The Indiana Pacers have a true point guard and it has become clear that Haliburton thrives in that distributing role. Sometimes this season he has been passive with his shots, but then he has games where he scores 30 points and hits all six of his threes.
Want to talk about great facilitators?
Here is a list of players with multiple games of 10+ points, 5+ rebounds, 15+ assists, and 0 turnovers: Chris Paul, Magic Johnson, John Stockton, Muggsy Bogues, and Tyrese Haliburton, per Basketball-Reference.
To simply compare the difference a change of scenery has been for Haliburton, this is his per-game numbers before and after the trade to Indiana.
Haliburton before joining the Pacers: 14.3 points, 7.4 assists, 41% from deep, and 45.7% from the field on 11.5 attempts.
Haliburton since joining the Pacers: 17.4 points, 9.8 assists, 40% from deep, and nearly 50% from the field on 12.5 attempts. He also leads the team in steals per game with 1.9.
The Indiana Pacers have just three games remaining this season, where they face the 76’ers twice and the Brooklyn Nets once. So, we get just three more games to watch Halibuurton fly around on the court before a busy offseason begins.
The Indiana Pacers have to surround Haliburton with the right players and it starts with the NBA draft.