Tyrese Haliburton

Lore & Background

Before Haliburton, the Pacers' point guard position was a revolving door of role players and stopgaps. The 2020 draft, a year without a true superstar at the top, gave Indiana a chance at a generational floor general in the 12th slot. Haliburton, a one-and-done at UCLA who had already drawn attention for his passing range and unselfish decision-making in high school, fit the bill. He was not the flashiest prospect on the board, but the Pacers saw a player who could run their offense with a freedom they had not enjoyed in years. His breakout came in the 2022–23 season, when his passing numbers and offensive creativity pushed the Pacers into the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference. The no-look pass, the behind-the-back skip, the hesitation step into a pocket pass—these became signature moments that Pacers fans replayed on social media. He earned All-Star honors and cemented himself as one of the league's top pure playmakers. What separates Haliburton from a typical high-volume passer is his fearlessness. He attacks closeouts, he throws the ball into traffic, he takes the extra dribble to find the open man. For a city that prides itself on blue-collar grit, watching a 6'3" point guard orchestrate with the calm of a chess grandmaster was a revelation. He made the Pacers' offense fun to watch in a way that had been missing for years, and in doing so, he gave the fanbase a new identity to rally behind.

In Their Own Story

The Bankers Life Fieldhouse is empty except for the sound of a single ball bouncing on hardwood. Haliburton, in a black warm-up shirt, stands at the top of the key. He dribbles once, twice. A ghost of a defender—just a memory of a closeout—closes in. He hits the hesitation, the ball vanishes behind his back, and for a split second the whole arena feels the pull of that pass before it arrives. He smiles, tucks the ball under his arm, and runs back to the top. The lights hum. The scoreboards are dark. Did you SEE that?'*

He runs it again. And again. Not for the crowd. For the feel of it. For the city that raised him and the black-and-gold that finally, after so long, made sense.

Reader's Guide

#0. 2020 to the present. Four-plus seasons in the black-and-gold, and every one of them has made the Pacers' offense more dangerous than the last. The anecdote that defines him for this crowd: a late-game possession, the Pacers trailing by one, Haliburton bringing the ball up with the clock in the low minutes. He hits a hesitation step, the defender bites, and he fires a no-look skip over the top of the key to a cutting teammate for an open three. The ball swishes. The Fieldhouse erupts. Haliburton doesn't even look up. He just jogs back on defense like he's done it a hundred times. Because he has. That casual, almost lazy confidence in a high-pressure moment is what makes Pacers fans lose their minds. The legacy line: a Pacers fan says, *'That's our kid. That's the kid from Indy who makes the whole thing look easy.'*

Did You Know?

• Haliburton is a product of the Indianapolis area, making him one of the rare modern NBA stars who grew up in the city he now represents.
• He went one-and-done at UCLA before entering the 2020 NBA Draft, where the Pacers selected him 12th overall.
• His passing style—built on no-look skips, behind-the-back feeds, and hesitation-step creates—has become the defining visual identity of the Pacers' offense in the early 2020s.