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In fact, the Pacers haven’t been a tax paying team since the 2004-05 season. In the two decades since, the franchise has always finished with a team salary below the luxury tax line and received a distribution of money from the league’s taxpaying teams. Since 2005, the only NBA teams to never cross the luxury tax threshold are the Pacers, Memphis Grizzlies, Detroit Pistons, Charlotte Hornets, and Sacramento Kings. Reporting suggested that the Pacers may have been willing to do so in the 2025-26 season after their run to the NBA Finals, but Tyrese Haliburton’s injury changed everything before Myles Turner left in free agency.
Huff, 28, spent most of his summer in Indianapolis outside of some travelling, which included a trip to the NBPA facility known as The Sanctuary in Andalucía, Spain. Huff has been there before for some summer tune up sessions. He also went to Los Angeles with about 10 of his Pacer teammates to scrimmage together. Critically, he’s gotten to play some basketball with Tyrese Haliburton, his star teammate that missed all of 2025-26. “He makes everybody around him better, and I think that’s really useful to have,” Huff said of their developing partnership. “I think just having him back, learning to play together— he’s got a lot of guys back that have played with him – but it’s been good to kind of learn that because we hadn’t done that yet.”
Karnisovas not only was fixated on Williams, but he didn’t even consider Haliburton a serious prospect. A source indicated that Karnisovas didn’t even think Haliburton would be a top-four talent on the Bulls’ roster at the time.
"Defensively, it's learning the techniques," Smith said. "I've been with T.J. and Ty just asking questions. In college, it's different. In the NBA, you can be more physical in the NBA. That's what I learned in the Summer League. "I'm like, 'Alright this is what I was horrible at.' I'm letting guys come off screens too easily. I'm talking to T.J. and he does it and he was like, 'You can be a lot more physical fighting those.' I'm like, 'OK, that makes it easier for me at least a little bit.' It's just a lot of little things like that that I've kind of picked up and asked questions about."
Dejounte Murray: You can't focus on other people. Obviously, you got fans and media and all these things that come with being a professional athlete, or an athlete in general. But the moment you start focusing on whether people are sleeping on you or they're saying great things about you, when you focus on those things, you lose automatically. It's over. Nobody should impact how your day goes or dictate what you're gonna be or anything. For me, it ain't never about proving nobody wrong. It's really just proving myself right. So, of course, I'm human. I got hurt; I tore my Achilles. Like, I think it should be celebrated how hard we work to get back on our feet. When I was watching Dame [Lillard] and Tyrese [Haliburton] and Jayson Tatum's process, as well as mine, it's like, nah, we're human. But that's the thing that comes with being a pro, being in the NBA. It's like you don't get looked at as a human. You're above a human, which is crazy.
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Tyrese Haliburton on tearing his Achilles in Game 7: I don’t know if I’ll ever get over it. [...] When I strained my calf, I knew it was a possibility. We knew that internally. Kendrick Perkins was going on TV talking about 'Don't play.' Get the f*** out of here, what is he talking about 'Don't play'? I knew it was a possiblity. In that moment, everyone talks about how it feels like you got kicked. I knew right away, because Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was in front of me, so I was like, 'How did he kick me?' There was a short moment while I was falling where I was like, 'How did he kick me in the back of my leg?' And then I was like, 'Oh s***'. But those emotions were much more, 'I can't believe this is happening right now,' vs. that it happened. Because injuries are a part of the game, and I know I'm going to be fine and I know we're going to be fine as a group, and life goes on. But it was just like, 'Not now. Anytime but right now.' Because everything felt like it was clicking at that moment.
Tyrese Haliburton: ‘And then I got another call, and it was like, now it was both of my agents, and they were like, and I was like, who is it? And then Woj on the phone. I don't know how he got like, cause I don't know how he was on the phone. He goes, I think it's Indiana. I'm like, who the [expletive] is Indiana? I'm like, I think it's Indiana. And I'm like, then I'm like, oh, after I process that Woj on the phone, I said, Indiana for who? Cause I didn't even know. And they were like, Sabonis. And I was like, oh, word.’
KΞRL_: Tyrese Haliburton says getting passed on by the Pistons felt the most personal Taylor Rooks: “Of the teams that passed on you, was there one that felt the most personal?” Tyrese Haliburton: “For sure, Detroit. For sure, Detroit.” “Because I mean, there were a lot of teams I wanted to go to. I liked Golden State a lot,that was like a dream. But I knew they probably wouldn't pick me at two.” “The Bulls, I thought, would have been cool. The Knicks. The Pistons. But with the Pistons, I knew they needed a point guard.” “In that moment, I already felt like I was the best point guard in the draft. LaMelo was touted as the number one guy, so he got drafted. And now I’m like, ‘Okay, it’s got to be me.’” “On ESPN, the top available were Anthony Edwards, James Wiseman, and LaMelo Ball. After that, I’m the number one best available.” “I told the Hawks and Cavs, ‘Please God, don’t draft me,’ because they already had Trae and Darius.” “So with the Pistons, I’m like, ‘You need a point guard, it’s got to be me.’ Then I look at my agent behind the camera and he gives me the look. Then it flashes up Killian Hayes, and I’m like, ‘What?!’” “In that moment, I was just angry. Like, what do you mean they need a point guard and they’re not picking me?”
Heat Central: Tyrese Haliburton says Giannis is one of the TOUGHEST players for the Pacers to scheme against: “We’ve just had so many different battles with Milwaukee that it’s hard not to say Giannis because we’ve played him so many times. Whatever scheme, he averaged I think like 50. We won, I think 4 out of 5. But it’s like, you can do whatever you want but sometimes it’s nothing” (Via @notbpod)
“Do you think that game would be at home, if not on national television?” Tyrese Haliburton followed up, as the hosts again agreed. “Do you think that that game would be at New Orleans?” Haliburton added, with a smirk on his face. Haliburton continued after the panel reacted to his questioning. “When I saw the schedule, I was like, ‘Oh wow!” he said. “Shoutout [Pelicans star] Trey Murphy [III], love my boy, Trey. Love New Orleans. But I was shocked to see that.”
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Indiana Pacers point guard, Tyrese Haliburton, distributed back-to-school essentials at Vel Phillips Middle School during the Oshkosh Back 2 School Fair Thursday. Partnering with OshKosh B’Gosh, the Haliburton Family Foundation gave 1,400 income-eligible Oshkosh students a backpack filled with school supplies, a new school-appropriate outfit, underwear, and hygiene items.
Tyrese Haliburton had to laugh when a report citing anonymous sources said the Pacers expected him to be cleared for the 2026-27 season opener, which will be nearly 16 months from his surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon suffered in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals. Frankly, the All-Star point guard didn't think there was any mystery there. The eventuality that he was going to miss the entire 2025-26 season but be ready for 2026-27 always seemed to be pretty cut-and-dry. "I am the source," Haliburton said Tuesday during a media availability meant to discuss his headlining of the Pacers Foundation Charity Softball Classic. "I am telling you I'm going to be healthy right now. I feel great. I'm doing everything. I'm playing pick-up pretty regularly at this point. I feel great. I will be ready for the season. If the season was today, I'd be ready."
Haliburton has said repeatedly that he's pleased with the addition of center Ivica Zubac from a February trade. Zubac played in just five games for the Pacers between an ankle injury and a season-ending fractured rib so he didn't get to play with Siakam let alone Haliburton. Haliburton said they still haven't had a chance to work together. "I have had zero court time with Zu," Haliburton said. "But I don't think that's a concern. I really don't. He'll get back out here after playing with his country in September-ish. That's typically when we all come in. I really don't have a concern because he's very smart. ... There is going to be a transition period for me because the last time I played it was with a guy who really spaced the floor at the 5. But I've never played with a screen setter like this. I've never played with a roller like this. I'm really looking forward to it."
