All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton will remain in Indiana for the foreseeable future after agreeing to an enormous five-year, $260-million maximum contract extension with the Pacers, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
The deal became official on July 6.
Haliburton, 23, has improved his scoring average in each of his five NBA seasons, including a career-best 20.7 points per game in 2022-23. His assists have trended up as well to an additional career high of 10.4 per game, also set last season.
In doing so, Haliburton became only the 15th payer in NBA history to average 20 points and 10 assists in a season. With his reported deal, Haliburton will become the highest-paid player in Pacers history, per the Indianapolis Star.
That breakout campaign included the first All-Star selection of his career, justifying Indiana’s multi-player trade with Sacramento in 2022 that cost productive forward Domantas Sabonis.
Indiana hopes to pair Haliburton with fellow guard Bennedict Mathurin, who showed promise last season as a rookie, as a difference-making backcourt in its quest to reach the postseason for the first time since 2019-20.
The Pacers were busy as free agency opened on Friday, reaching a deal with versatile swingman Bruce Brown that will pay him $45 million over two seasons.
Overall, Indiana has a young, emerging core of players that could be poised for breakout seasons in 2023-24. In addition, the Pacers used their two first-round picks in the 2023 NBA Draft on power forward Jarace Walker and wing Ben Sheppard.
Coach Rick Carlisle made it clear what the Pacers needed to do during the offseason after Indiana allowed 119.5 points, the second-most in the league.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
