It became one of the stories out of Team USA’s run to gold at the Paris Olympics — Tyrese Haliburton reportedly was trying to recruit other stars to join him on the Indiana Pacers.
Haliburton owned that appearing on ESPN’s Pat McAfee show, but also said it was blown way out of proportion because everybody was recruiting everybody (hat tip HoopsHype).
“The story about me recruiting players to Indiana got blown out of proportion. They made it seem like I was the only one doing it, but everyone was recruiting. I just play in the smallest market, so when I do it, it gets magnified. That’s fine, though. Indiana is a great market. It’s a basketball state. We’ve got a good thing going here, so if anyone wants to play with me, they’ll have to come to Indiana. I’m not going anywhere.”
That last statement will make Pacers fans happy: “I’m not going anywhere.”
He’s obviously not going anywhere in the short term as this coming season is the first year of a five-year max extension with a Pacers team that reached the Eastern Conference Finals a season ago, a team built around his skill set and style of play. Long term, let’s hope he finishes his career in Indiana, it’s good for the sport and team brands to have a Stephen Curry staying in Golden State or a Kobe Bryant staying with the Lakers for an entire career. It’s also the exception, not the rule (and Kobe asked out of the Lakers). It’s impossible to predict where Haliburton and the Pacers will be in five years, maybe things stay the same and maybe not.
Haliburton means it right now, he doesn’t want to leave Indiana, he loves it there. Part of whether he stays long-term will be about winning and keeping an Eastern Conference Finals (or better) team in Indianapolis. That will be a challenge in the coming years.
