Tyrese Haliburton didn’t play much for Team USA at the Olympics, but his time in Paris might prove quite fruitful for the Indiana Pacers. Haliburton recently held a press conference in his hometown of Oshkosh where he was asked if he thinks some players on Team USA might join forces later on, and he hilariously admitted he was recruiting too.
“There will probably be something that comes about it,” Haliburton said. “I recruited every guy on that team to the Pacers, so if anybody wants to join us in Indiana, I’m all for it.”
A reporter asked Haliburton, who averaged 2.7 points, 0.7 assists, and 0.3 steals per game at the Olympics if he himself was recruited and the two-time All-Star revealed he was.
“I definitely got recruited, but I’m not going anywhere,” Haliburton stated. “I think it was a lot of fun with those guys. You create, I think, lifelong relationships, lifelong friendships.”
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We have seen it happen a fair bit over the years, where players form special bonds during their time together with the national team, and it leads to them wanting to play together. If you just go back to the 2020/21 Tokyo Olympics, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker were both on Team USA’s roster and are now teammates.
Bam Adebayo and Damian Lillard were also on that team and became great friends during that time. Lillard desperately wanted to be traded to Adebayo’s Miami Heat in the 2023 offseason but they just weren’t able to agree on a deal with his Portland Trail Blazers.
Going back a bit further, DeAndre Jordan once revealed that he, Durant, and Kyrie Irving discussed teaming up when they were with Team USA at the 2016 Olympics. It only took a couple of years for that to happen too, as all three joined the Brooklyn Nets in 2019.
So, it is quite possible that a couple of players from the 2024 roster might decide to join forces at some point. Haliburton would love it if someone came over to the Pacers, but Indiana has never quite been an attractive destination for the big names. Maybe if the 24-year-old, who averaged 20.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 10.9 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game last season, can lead the team to glory at some point in the future, some stars might be tempted to join.
Tyrese Haliburton Said The Pacers Have To Keep Winning To Gain Respect
Haliburton and the Pacers made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, but are not being talked about as one of the top contenders for 2024-25. Earlier this offseason, Haliburton spoke about being underdogs in the East.
“All I keep seeing is, ‘Who’s going to win the East? Boston, Milwaukee, New York, or Philly?’” Haliburton said. “It’s like, what are we doing [not being included]? But again, we’re Indiana, people didn’t even know, people didn’t even watch us play until the playoffs. People didn’t watch us play until the second round,” said Haliburton, via GQ. “But again, that respect comes with winning. So if we want to gain that respect, we just got to keep having success as a team. And it’s coming.”
The reason they aren’t getting that respect is that the run to the ECF has been viewed as a bit of a fluke. The Pacers beat the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks on their way, and both teams were dealing with major injury issues. If the Pacers, who were the sixth seed in the East last season with a 47-35 record, make it back to the Conference Finals in 2025, they will get a lot of respect.
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