The Indiana Pacers are just three wins away from their first-ever NBA championship, and Tyrese Haliburton is a big reason why. Haliburton has had a magical postseason, and Pacers GM Chad Buchanan spoke to The Athletic about their decision to acquire him from the Sacramento Kings in 2022.
“Our team was kind of at a crossroads,” Buchanan said. “We didn’t really have a guy, like a young player, that you could really build around. Now, Domas (Sabonis) was a terrific player and a very productive player. But we felt like in today’s modern NBA, it’s hard to build around a center unless you’ve got, like, a (Denver Nuggets star Nikola) Jokic— an MVP-caliber center.
“So we tried to target some young guards, playmaking guards around the league that we thought maybe fit the bill,” Buchanan stated. “They’re very hard to acquire, obviously. We felt like Tyrese, with the way Rick wanted to play, and how we want to build a team in the modern NBA — playing faster, playing a little more random.
“Tyrese was one of the ideal targets to try to build that type of system around,” Buchanan continued. “That’s what coach Carlisle values, and has developed his philosophy (around) over the years, and where we’re at today. It was just a great fit from that standpoint.”
The Pacers traded Domantas Sabonis, Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb, and a 2023 second-round pick for Haliburton, Buddy Hield, and Tristan Thompson on Feb. 8, 2022. For the longest time, this was seen as a win-win trade as the big names shone for their new teams.
Sabonis would make the All-Star team in 2023 with the Kings and helped end a 16-year playoff drought that season. He also made the All-NBA Third Team in 2023 and 2024.
For all the good work Sabonis has done, though, the Kings have now become the losers in this trade. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2023 and are nowhere close to being good enough to compete for a title. It would be unfair to blame Sabonis for that, but Haliburton has shown the difference a special guard can make.
As Buchanan pointed out, the Pacers weren’t really going anywhere when Haliburton arrived. They had a woeful 19-37 record when he made his debut during the 2021-22 season, and you wondered when this franchise would turn things around.
Success wouldn’t come immediately for the Pacers with Haliburton either. They finished that 2021-22 campaign with a 25-57 record and then went 35-47 in the 2022-23 season. Haliburton did make the All-Star team for the first time in 2023, and he was ready to lead a revival the following year.
The Pacers went 47-35 in 2023-24 to finish as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference. They surprisingly made it all the way to the Conference Finals, but the run was viewed as a bit of a fluke. They had beaten the Milwaukee Bucks and the New York Knicks along the way, and both teams were dealing with injuries.
The Pacers have now shown that their 2024 run was no fluke by going one better in 2025. They are up 1-0 against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals after yet another incredible comeback that was capped off by another Haliburton game-winner.
Haliburton has now established himself as one of the best clutch performers in recent NBA history. The 25-year-old has hit four go-ahead or game-tying shots in the final five seconds of regulation or overtime in this postseason.
Haliburton, who is averaging 18.5 points, 5.9 rebounds, 9.5 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game in these playoffs, would now have his eyes set on putting the Pacers in the driver’s seat in this series. Game 2 is at Paycom Center on Sunday at 8 PM ET, and another win would put them in a commanding position.
