The Indiana Pacers accomplished their most important task this offseason by agreeing to a five-year rookie scale contract extension with All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton. The deal contains no options of any kind, meaning that Haliburton is under contract with the Pacers through the 2028-29 season.

That’s a long time in the NBA, and the blue and gold are now tasked with building around Haliburton going forward. He’s an excellent talent and still just 23-years old. It’s up to Indiana to construct a winner with his strengths in mind.

“We want [Haliburton] here for as long as he wants to be here,” Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard said in April.

Getting Haliburton to sign a five-year extension with no options is significant — that there is no opt out matters a great deal for the Pacers. In exchange, Haliburton earned two important details in his extension — a 15% trade kicker, meaning he will get a bonus of up to 15% (less, if the bonus will take his salary over his maximum) of the remaining value of his contract if traded, and the easiest possible route to earning 30% of the cap in salary. If Haliburton makes any All-NBA team next season, wins MVP, or is named Defensive Player of the Year, his new deal will start at 30% of the salary cap in 2024-25.

If he doesn’t reach any of those performance criteria, Haliburton’s extension will instead start at 25% of the salary cap. If the cap grows by the maximum 10% next season and Haliburton reaches his incentives in 2023-24, the total value of his extension will be roughly $260.4 million. If he doesn’t receive any of the awards needed to bump up his salary, the maximum value of his extension would be $217 million. The total value will depend on the salary cap and Haliburton’s performance in the coming season.

All of those intricacies matter and likely were a part of negotiations. But in the end, the Pacers offering the maximum salary was a no-brainer. Haliburton is an ascending talent, and he became the first player in NBA history to average 20+ points and 10+ assists per game while shooting better than 40% from three-point range this past season.

“He has changed the trajectory of this organization,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said of Haliburton earlier this month. “He wants the responsibility of being a great player and leading this organization.”

The Pacers have a premier talent on their team, and he is a perfectionist who is looking to get better every year. As he improves, and the Pacers build around him, his stats could look even better.

The biggest win for the Pacers, beyond keeping a franchise-level talent, is the length of the contract. Getting Haliburton for five seasons beyond his current deal is critical, and it isn’t a given with rookie-scale extensions. Jaylen Brown only got four guaranteed years with the Boston Celtics in a rookie-scale extension. Jayson Tatum got four years and a player option on the fifth season in his. Donovan Mitchell, who has already been traded on his deal, has the same structure as Tatum, as do Trae Young and Luka Doncic. The Pacers did well to avoid a potentially shorter deal.

The bonus of a longer contract is that it gives Indiana more chances to keep Haliburton beyond his current contract via another extension. Because Haliburton is not eligible to be traded until July of 2024, he will finish his rookie contract with Indiana, and that means the blue and gold will be the only team eligible to give Haliburton a Designated Veteran Extension in the future.

Brown just signed one such deal with the Celtics. Players are only allowed to sign Designated Veteran Extensions with the team that they finished their rookie contract on, and for Haliburton, that will be the Pacers. These extensions are available to players who have at least seven years of NBA experience, but fewer than 10. For Haliburton, he will reach seven years of service after the 2026-27 campaign.

At that time, Haliburton would be eligible for a Designated Veteran Extension if he meets one of the following criteria at any point before the end of his 10th campaign:

• Being named to an All-NBA team in either the most recent season or the two seasons prior.
• Being named the NBA MVP in any of the last three seasons.
• Being named the Defensive Player of the Year in the most recent campaign or the two seasons prior.

Being a Designated Veteran would allow Haliburton to extend his contract further and bump his maximum salary up to 35% of the cap, which is typically reserved for players who have been in the NBA for 10+ years. But Haliburton could be eligible for that pay bump early, and he can only get it with the blue and gold.

Because his deal has no options, there will be three different offseasons that Haliburton could be eligible for such an extension before his new contract ends. That’s a long time, and it’s many chances for Indiana to have an advantage over other teams in keeping the All-Star guard. Boston just agreed to a deal using this rule with Brown. The Denver Nuggets did it with Nikola Jokic last summer, and Karl-Anthony Towns and Devin Booker are also one year removed from Designated Veteran Extensions.

Haliburton might never be eligible. But having more opportunities at being able to receive such a contract is great for the talented guard, and it’s great for the Pacers. It gives them more possibilities to keep their star for the long haul.

“I want to give a big shoutout to (Pacers owner) Herb Simon, the Simon family, and the Pacers organization [for] trusting and believing in me from day one,” Haliburton said after signing his current extension. “And allowing me to wear this uniform for, what did you say, six years?” he asked head coach Rick Carlisle.

“15!” Pritchard joked, which generated laughs. “Hopefully a lot more than that,” Haliburton replied. Clearly, the team and player have a strong relationship. If Haliburton plays well during his next six years in the NBA, there’s a chance that relationship lasts for a long time.