In an interview with Andrew Greif in GQ, Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton shared that he feels like he still has a lot to prove after his first All-NBA season.

“I’m greedy, I want to be great,” Haliburton said. “So, I mean, what is there to be satisfied about?”

Last season, the 24-year old was named an All-Star for the second time in his career. For the first few months of the season, he was among the best players in the NBA with his offensive output, and while it faded down the stretch due to injury, he was still a mega talent when hobbled.

His impressive play led to his first playoff berth, and then his first spot on an All-NBA team. But for the Wisconsin native, that isn’t enough.

“I got a lot more to prove,” Haliburton told GQ. “I’m coming into this year, and whether it’s the case or not, viewing it like everybody thinks my success in the first half of last season was a fluke, and I got to prove it again,” he added.

That line is perfectly fitting for Haliburton’s character. He searches for his own motivation, even admitting last season that he uses Tweets from accounts with few followers to get motivated. “I use every little thing as motivation, I take tweets from people who have two followers as motivation. That’s just who I am naturally, so it just comes with it,” he said when discussing comments by MSG Networks Analyst Wally Szczerbiak.

He’ll try to do it all again in the next campaign. After reaching the peak of his career so far last year, the Iowa State product is looking to get better in 2024-25. To him, that means proving his success last season wasn’t a fluke.

He averaged 20.1 points and 10.9 assists per game during 2023-24. Haliburton is currently competing for a gold medal with Team USA in the 2024 Olympics, and he made his Olympic debut earlier this week.

Haliburton also told Greif that he thinks his team isn’t being discussed appropriately this offseason.
“All I keep seeing is, ‘Who’s going to win the East? Boston, Milwaukee, New York, or Philly?’ It’s like, what are we doing [not being included]?” Haliburton mused. “But again, we’re Indiana, people didn’t even know, people didn’t even watch us play until the playoffs. People didn’t watch us play until the second round. But again, that respect comes with winning. So if we want to gain that respect, we just got to keep having success as a team. And it’s coming.”

Last year, Indiana reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in a decade. Haliburton and Pascal Siakam, who may also be headed for a big year, were integral to that run.

Next season will be Haliburton’s fifth in the NBA, and his first on a max contract. He’s hoping to prove that he’s more than worth that deal — and that his team can remain among the top of the East. The entire GQ interview, which features much more insight and details from Haliburton, can be found here.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana’s all-time greatest statistical punter, James Evans, was named to the Ray Guy Award watch list on Friday.

The Augusta Sports Council announced the watch list. Evans, a senior, is one of 34 candidates for the award which goes to the best punter in college football.

The initial list is comprised of eligible 2023 award semifinalists, top 10 NCAA punters from 2023 as well as preseason and previous season all-conference and All-America teams.

Statistically, Evans had the greatest season any Indiana punter has had in 2023. His 45.8 yards per punt average in 2023 put him well past previous record holder Drew Hagan, who averaged 44.8 yards in 1999.

His 2023 campaign helped make Evans Indiana’s best all-time punter with a career average of 43.9 yards. He has a significant advantage over second-place Alan Sutkowski, who averaged 42.5 yards from 1995-97.

Evans, who hails from Auckland, New Zealand, had 22 punts that averaged over 50 yards, including a 70-yard punt against Rutgers. His average ranked third in the Big Ten and 15th nationally.

His net average of 41 yards per punt averaged 27th nationally. Evans has also been adept at placing his punts. In 2022, he was third nationally with 13 punts downed inside the 10 and also third with 30 punts placed inside the 20-yard line.

Evans is prolific with 201 career punts, the fifth punter in Indiana history to top the career 200-punt mark.

Evans is the second Indiana football player to be named to a preseason watch list. Tight end James Bomba was named as an AFCA Good Works Team Nominee and was also tabbed for the Allstate Wuerffel Trophy Watch List.

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers pulled off one of their most significant moves of the offseason last week as they extended guard Andrew Nembhard’s contract.

The new, longer deal for the 24-year old was announced last Friday, and reports have detailed that it’s a three-year, $58.6 million extension. For a player that hasn’t made more than $2.4 million in a given season, it’s a major contract.

It’s also a huge win for the Indiana Pacers. Nembhard is a terrific player and still young at 24. He only has been in the league for two years, so he has room to grow despite being experienced already — he helped the blue and gold reach the Eastern Conference Finals last year.

Starting guards are not cheap in the NBA, and neither are young players. Malik Monk and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope both signed multi-year deals with an average annual value of $19.5 million or more this offseason, and they play Nembhard’s position. Patrick Williams, a young yet unproven player, inked a deal worth $18 million per year.

Nembhard, after his extension, is now under contract for four years and $60.7 million in total. That’s just over $15 million per season for a proven, young two-way guard.

“During the course of Andrew’s career, he has proven that there is no moment too big for him and he continually rises to every challenge presented to him and our team,” Pacers President of Basketball Operations said in a statement.

Nembhard’s deal, at least by the high-level numbers, is slightly misleading. In order to get the extension in motion, Indiana declined a team option that previously existed in Nembhard’s contract. Said option covered the 2025-26 season, and it was for just $2.2 million. By declining that option and then extending Nembhard’s contract, he gets a roughly $16 million pay bump next season.

That’s why the length of the deal made sense. If Nembhard was only willing to add two years to his contract, that may not have been worth it for Indiana. They already had that team option in their favor. A four-year extension would have required declining that team option, and that may have been too long of a commitment for Nembhard. Three years was the perfect middle ground.

That resolution means four more seasons under contract in total, which will keep Nembhard in Indy through 2028 barring a trade. He’s been a great piece for the franchise since being drafted 31st overall in 2022. By the final season of the contract, the Gonzaga product will make just a few million more then the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception.

That’s an inexpensive deal for a starter, and there were reasons to keep Nembhard beyond a great contract. He’s an impactful player — the Pacers were more than four points per 100 possessions better on defense with Nembhard on the floor. On offense, they stumbled from best-ever levels to merely elite when Nembhard was playing.

In the postseason, the former second-round pick averaged 14.9 points and 5.5 assists per game. When star guard Tyrese Haliburton was injured for the final two playoff outings, he torched the Boston Celtics.

If the Canadian guard built off the postseason success and had a great third season, he may have gotten a huge contract as a restricted free agent next summer. San Antonio, Brooklyn, and Washington all need a point guard and project to have cap space in 2025.

Instead, Nembhard is staying with Indiana. “His hard work and focus on developing all aspects of his game have made him an instrumental part of our success — and he has only started to scratch the surface of his potential — so we are excited to have him with us for years to come,” Pritchard said.

Nembhard averaged 9.2 points and 4.1 assists per game last season. He’s going to improve while playing for Team Canada in the Olympics this offseason. “How to draw fouls. And rebounding,” Nembhard said of what he’s working on this summer.

After the Olympic games, he’ll return to the Pacers. Once he’s back, he can grow over the life of his new contract and become the player this deal says he can be. He might already be that player, and that’s why the Pacers have to be beaming that Nembhard signed this extension.