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Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton said he felt like he was playing too fast during Indiana's 123-112 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in its preseason opener at Iowa State on Wednesday night, Haliburton's first game in more than 16 months. He scored seven points on 3-of-8 shooting with six assists, one steal and two blocks during his 16 minutes of action. "It's the first game, but it's got to slow down," Haliburton said Wednesday night. "There was just a lot of adrenaline. I was hyped to be out there, excited, but I just got to slow down a little bit."
Cody Taylor: Source: The Spurs hosted a workout in between Games 2 and 3 of the WCF with the following prospects: Michael Ajayi, Butler; John Blackwell, Wisconsin; Milan Momcilovic, Iowa State; Felix Okpara, Tennessee; Tarris Reed Jr., UConn; Peter Suder, Miami (OH)
Butler wasn't always on the path to NBA stardom. He was an unknown, unrecruited player from Tomball High School in 2007, who spent one year at Tyler Junior College before a transfer to Marquette in 2008. Butler, a fish-out-of-water in frigid Wisconsin, soon became friends with Ciara Jones, a Marquette volleyball player, who is now an assistant coach at Iowa State. "Jimmy and I had this academic boot camp together, so we had classes and then study hall together," Jones told Chron. "We were both pretty shy. We bonded over the cold with me from Florida and him from Texas. "Jimmy's always supported me, no matter what. He'd go to all my games, and now, whenever we can see each other, we really try to make it happen."
Shams Charania: The Denver Nuggets are signing guard Curtis Jones to a two-way NBA contract, agent Austin Walton of NEXT Sports tells ESPN. After going undrafted out of Iowa State, Jones had a stellar summer league for the Nuggets, averaging 15 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists on 47% from 3.
Connor McCaffery, Clark's boyfriend, was a player development intern on the Pacers' staff, and he had played against Haliburton in college -- Haliburton at Iowa State, McCaffery at Iowa -- but their friendship grew once McCaffery joined the Pacers. "Me and Connor would talk all the time about [Clark's] journey," Haliburton said. "But I refused to cheer for Caitlin until she got out of college because I'm not cheering for Iowa." As the season went on and it was clear the Fever would have a good chance at landing Clark with the No. 1 pick, Haliburton finally relented.
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The Pacers, with a longtime owner in Herb Simon who has always preferred retooling over rebuilding, went from missing the playoffs for three consecutive seasons to back-to-back Eastern Conference finals appearances and this NBA Finals run that they hope ends with the franchise’s first title. And Haliburton, the two-time All-Star out of Iowa State who was drafted 12th overall by the Kings in 2020, has been the one leading the way. “Our team was kind of at a crossroads,” Buchanan told The Athletic by phone on Friday while reflecting on the Haliburton trade. “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) Jokić — an MVP-caliber center. So we tried to target some young guards, playmaking guards around the league that we thought maybe fit the bill. They’re very hard to acquire, obviously.
Stefan Bondy: Ke’el Ware said he worked out for the Knicks on Monday. Thibs in attendance. It was a two-player workout with Hason Ward of Iowa State.
The World Cup didn’t end like anyone associated with Team USA had hoped. Are you over it yet? Tyrese Haliburton: Still not over it. It’s frustrating. Everybody was mad, of course, but it’s like, for me, I haven’t won since like my sophomore year in college (at Iowa State). So it’s just like really opened my eyes to some real stuff in my life, honestly. It was like, “I got to change my habits and certain things to be tired of losing.” I’m not a loser, it’s not what I do. And I’m not going to let that continue to be what I am. So everybody keeps asking, “What are your individual goals this year?” I just want to win, like, I’m tired of losing. Been frustrating the last couple of years, but I think that USA stuff kind of really opened my eyes. I can’t continue to do this in my life.
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Willoughby played professionally for a number of years, making his NBA debut in 1999-2000 with the Chicago Bulls, reuniting with Tim Floyd, who left Iowa State after the 1997-98 season to coach the Bulls. He averaged 7.6 points in his lone season in the NBA.
Adam Zagoria: Iowa State big Osun Osunniyi is headed to Summer League with the Washington Wizards, per league source
Adam Zagoria: Iowa State big man Osun Osunniyi has a workout with the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday and is coming off the Bulls, Spurs, Celtics and Hornets, per league source @CycloneMBB
Alex Kennedy: Iowa State senior George Conditt has committed to play NBA Summer League with the Minnesota Timberwolves, per a league source. The 21-year-old center has started for the Puerto Rican national team.