The Pacers will show up on a lot of “tanking teams” preseason lists, next to the likes of the Spurs and Rockets, but that may not be totally fair. Sure, they traded away All-Star Domantas Sabonis as well as Malcolm Brogdon and Caris LeVert — and are looking to trade Myles Turner and Buddy Hield before the February deadline. The Pacers are not going to win a lot of games this season.
But Indiana does have one cornerstone player for the future, guard Tyrese Haliburton. He came to the midwest in the Sabonis trade and Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan told Alex Kennedy of Basketball News the plan is to have Haliburton as an anchor of what comes next.
“We’re gonna build our team around him,” Buchanan told Basketball News. “We see him as hopefully being the next Reggie Miller. We had a Reggie Miller mural painted on a building in downtown Indianapolis, and I think our dream is that one day Tyrese will have [his own] up somewhere in downtown Indianapolis.”
That’s a lot of pressure to lay on the young guard’s shoulders, but Haliburton likes being a No.1 option on the offensive end.
“As a kid, I would’ve f****** killed for this, so it’s fun to be a part of,” Haliburton said. “And at the end of the day, it’s just basketball. And the things in life that come with it, I’m just gonna be who I am and share my values on certain things… I just take it naturally and have fun with it. It’s a great opportunity for me.”
Haliburton was the prize return in the Sabonis trade — and one a lot of other teams around the league were surprised the Kings gave up. Haliburton himself admits to being blindsided by the trade, he planned to be a King for life, and there is some resentment there. Around the league, he is seen as a quality lead guard who can handle a team, who plays with veteran savvy and IQ but is just entering his third NBA season. With the Pacers last season, he averaged 17.5 points and 9.6 assists a game. The Kings were willing to trade long term for the short term in the hopes of ending their 16-year playoff drought, but the Pacers believe they won that trade.
Is Haliburton a true No.1 option on an elite NBA team? The Pacers are about to find out, but even as they look for other stars in the draft, they believe they have one anchor in Haliburton. It’s a very good place to start a rebuild.
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Pacers GM hopes Tyrese Haliburton will be “the next Reggie Miller” originally appeared on NBCSports.com
