It has become one of the stories of Team USA wins gold at Paris Olympics — Tyrese Haliburton allegedly tried to recruit other stars to join him on the Indiana Pacers.
Haliburton owned this appearing on ESPN’s Pat McAfee Showbut he also said it had been exaggerated because everyone was recruiting everyone (Hats off to HoopsHype).
“The story that I was recruiting players for Indiana got blown out of proportion. They made it seem like I was the only one doing it, but everybody was recruiting. I just play in the smallest market, so when I do it, it gets bigger. But that’s OK. Indiana is a big market. It’s a basketball state. We’ve got some good stuff going on here, so if anybody wants to play with me, they’re going to have to come to Indiana. I’m not going anywhere.”
This last statement will make Pacers fans happy: “I’m not going anywhere.”
He’s obviously not going anywhere in the short term as this upcoming season is the first year of a five-year max extension with a Pacers team that reached the Eastern Conference Finals a season ago, a team built around his skills and style of play. Long term, hopefully he finishes his career in Indiana, it’s good for the sport and the team’s brands to have a Stephen Curry stay inside Golden State or a Kobe Bryant stay with the Lakers throughout an entire career. It’s also the exception, not the rule (and Kobe asked to leave the Lakers). It’s impossible to predict where Haliburton and the Pacers will be in five years, maybe things will stay the same and maybe they won’t.
Haliburton is serious, he doesn’t want to leave Indiana, he loves it here. His long-term presence will depend in part on his ability to win and keep an Eastern Conference Finals (or better) team in Indianapolis. That will be a challenge in the years to come.
