Tyrese Haliburton

Pacers Notes: Mathurin, Turner, McConnell, Haliburton

June 12th, 2025 at 7:23pm CST by Earnest Marshall

After tearing his labrum and missing the end of last season, Pacers wing Bennedict Mathurin got a calendar to count the days until he could return to the floor, The Athletic’s Shakeia Taylor writes.

Fast-forward a year, and Mathurin delivered a historic performance for the Pacers in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, notching 27 points in 22 minutes. His scoring output was the most for a reserve in the Finals since Jason Terry in 2011, Taylor notes.

“Every day he would come in and take one off, take one off,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “He was counting the days down to being cleared sometime in August. Then be able to begin training camp, begin five-on-five with our guys in September and then be in training camp, really, with his eyes firmly set on an opportunity in the playoffs. He’s put in a lot of work to be ready for these moments, and tonight he was an absolute major factor.”

Mathurin attributed his eager and stay-ready mentality to watching and learning from his teammates and coaches during the playoffs last spring.

“I think as much as I was out last year, not being able to play, I learned a lot,” Mathurin said. “Just being on the bench and being next to the coaches who were able to run me through the game and stuff like that. It was an unfortunate situation, but I was fortunate enough to learn a lot and be ready for this year.”

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Myles Turner played through an illness in Game 3, Joel A. Erickson of IndyStar writes. He battled cold-like symptoms during the game, but still wound up making the defensive play of the game when he blocked Chet Holmgren to maintain the team’s late lead. “Well, Myles is under the weather,” Carlisle said. “He may not even be with us tomorrow. He just hasn’t been feeling well the last couple of days. It was affecting his wind. He won’t bring it up, but I think it’s just appropriate to mention that he’s working through something.” According to IndyStar’s Dustin Dopirak, Turner is not on the injury report for Game 4, but Jarace Walker (right ankle sprain) has been ruled out for the fourth straight game.
Alongside Mathurin, the Pacers got significant contributions off the bench from T.J. McConnell and Obi Toppin in their Game 3 win, per The Athletic’s David Aldridge. McConnell recorded 10 points, five assists and five steals. “I think his energy is unbelievable,” Tyrese Haliburton said. “You guys know he’s definitely a crowd favorite. I joke with him, I call him the Great White Hope. He does a great job of bringing energy in this building. And I think people feed off that. And he had a couple of unbelievable steals.”
Haliburton shut down outside noise and delivered a tremendous performance in Game 3, Dopirak writes. He recorded 22 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds in the win. “I think the commentary is always going to be what it is, you know?” Haliburton said. “Most of the time, the talking heads on the major platforms, I couldn’t care less. Honestly, like what do they really know about basketball?“

Pacers Notes: Haliburton, Game 3, Turner

June 10th, 2025 at 1:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton walked out of his post-game press conference on Sunday with a noticeable limp, but he took part in practice on Tuesday and wasn’t limited at all, tweets Jamal Collier of ESPN. Speaking to the media after practice, Haliburton suggested he has no major health concerns.

“I’m fine. Really just a lower leg thing. I’ll leave it at that,” Haliburton said, per Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files (Twitter link). “I don’t think there’s anything more to elaborate. I feel fine and I’ll be ready to go for Game 3.”

Haliburton has made 50% of his shots from the field through two games against Oklahoma City and knocked down a game-winner in Game 1, but has been limited to a relatively modest 15.5 points on 13.0 attempts per night and hasn’t gone to the free throw line at all. He has also turned the ball over eight times in two games against Oklahoma City’s top-ranked defense after averaging 1.9 turnovers per game in the first three rounds of the playoffs.

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Haliburton had just three points at the half in Game 2 after scoring six first-half points in Game 1. He said on Sunday night that he and the Pacers need to figure out how to get off to faster starts going forward. “They got a lot of different guys who can guard the ball, fly around,” he said, according to Collier. “… I just got to figure out how to be better earlier in games. Kudos to them, they’re a great defensive team. But [I will] watch the film, see where I can get better.”
Center Myles Turner is optimistic about Indiana’s ability to further unlock Haliburton, even against a tough Thunder defense, per Collier. “With Tyrese, there’s plenty of formulas to get him going,” Turner said. “There are things we went over in our game plan that we didn’t execute well enough (in Game 2). We’ll get them in the paint. We have been one of the better teams scoring in the paint all year and we have to establish that early. We only had four or six points in the paint in the first half, and that’s not Pacers basketball.”
James Boyd of The Athletic takes a look at the ups and downs that Haliburton has experienced on and off the court since being traded from Sacramento to Indiana and considers what it would mean for him and the city if the Pacers can win a title this year.
In the wake of reports linking multiple Eastern Conference rivals to Turner, Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (subscription required) examines what it might cost the Pacers to re-sign their starting center in free agency this summer, as well as the ripple effect it might have on upcoming decisions on players like Bennedict Mathurin and Jarace Walker. Although the Pacers seem intent on keeping as much of their rotation together as possible going forward, reserve forward Obi Toppin may be viewed as a “luxury item” if the team brings back Turner on a deal in the range of $30MM per year and wants to shed a bit of long-term salary, Dopirak notes.

Pacers Notes: Defense, Haliburton, Carlisle, Boucek

June 8th, 2025 at 2:41pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Thunder have been praised for their defensive prowess and depth but the Pacers have those same attributes, The Athletic’s Eric Nehm and Shakeia Taylor note. Throughout the playoffs, the Pacers have been using what they call the “wear-down effect,” in which they use their depth and speed to carry out their defensive coverages and apply full-court pressure. That leads to key stops and uncharacteristic late-game decisions by their opponents.

It helped them during their unlikely rally in Game 1.

“We want to make it hard,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “Each game in the series is going to look different. A playoff series is a series of seven chapters, you know, and each one takes on a different personality.”

Here’s more on the Pacers as they head into tonight’s Game 2 with a 1-0 series lead:

Tyrese Haliburton not only hit the game-winning shot on Thursday but scouts interviewed by Grant Afseth of RG.org noted how the Pacers star adjusted as the game progressed. He appeared to be in a feeling-out process in the first half but his mindset clearly shifted during the second half. “That’s growth,” one Eastern Conference assistant coach told Afseth. “You don’t wait until the fourth quarter to flip a switch—he came out in the third quarter and changed the tone.”
Haliburton is carrying out the vision that Carlisle had when the head coach returned for a second stint with Indiana. Jared Weiss of The Athletic details their partnership and how the relationship between coach and star player has evolved. “I think that it got to the point for me where when you’re young, establishing yourself in the NBA, you’re kind of working your way through things and trying to figure out where you stand in the league,” Haliburton said. “Where I’m at now, I’m really comfortable in my own skin. I feel like I’ve really started to establish myself in this league.”
Former Heat coach Ron Rothstein played an important mentoring role in Jenny Boucek‘s coaching career, as Ira Winderman of he South Florida Sun Sentinel details. Boucek was an assistant with the WNBA’s Miami Sol in the early 2000s. Boucek is now one of Carlisle’s top assistants. Carlisle says that Boucek is a “great communicator” and also brings a lot of positive energy to the staff and team.

Pacers Notes: Haliburton, Hanlen, Siakam, Trade Deadline

June 7th, 2025 at 5:31pm CST by Arthur Hill

If the Kings had been more patient, maybe Tyrese Haliburton would be nailing clutch shots while leading them on an inspiring run to the NBA Finals. Instead, he was sent to the Pacers in a blockbuster six-player deal at the 2022 trade deadline. As Sam Amick of The Athletic notes, the trade originally appeared to be a good move for both teams, but Haliburton’s emergence into stardom has made it more one-sided.

Sources tell Amick that Sacramento knew it couldn’t keep both Haliburton and fellow point guard De’Aaron Fox, but Fox’s trade value was at a low point in 2022. The front office explored deals involving Fox, who had recently signed a five-year, $160MM contract, but couldn’t find a worthwhile return.

Amick’s sources say the Kings had discussions with Indiana about both guards, but believed they could make a much better deal by parting with Haliburton. Rick Carlisle was in his first season as the Pacers’ head coach and was looking for a point guard he could trust to run his up-tempo offense.

“Our team was kind of at a crossroads,” general manager Chad Buchanan recalled. “We didn’t really have a guy, like a young player, that you could really build around. … So we tried to target some young guards, play-making guards around the league that we thought maybe fit the bill. They’re very hard to acquire, obviously. We felt like Tyrese, with the way Rick wanted to play, and how we want to build a team in the modern NBA — playing faster, playing a little more random. Tyrese was one of the ideal targets to try to build that type of system around. That’s what coach Carlisle values, and has developed his philosophy (around) over the years and where we’re at today. It was just a great fit from that standpoint.”

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A meeting with trainer Drew Hanlen shortly before the trade to Indiana changed Haliburton’s approach to the game, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. Hanlen challenged him to look for his own shot and stop deferring to teammates so much. “The big quote that we always say is, ‘Sometimes being too unselfish is actually being selfish,'” Hanlen said. “When he’s unselfish, it actually negatively impacts his teammates’ success and negatively impacts his team’s success. The more aggressive he is, the more his team wins.” Shelburne adds that Hanlen had been watching tape of Haliburton prior to their meeting because he was also working with Joel Embiid, and the Sixers were involved in discussions with the Kings on a deal that would have involved Haliburton and Ben Simmons.
Pacers players are brimming with confidence after their improbable comeback in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, writes Jordan Davis of The Oklahoman. Indiana pulled out the victory despite committing 19 turnovers in the first half and trailing by double digits for much of the game. “We didn’t even play well,” Pascal Siakam said in an exchange with Haliburton as they walked to the locker room after the final buzzer (Twitter video link from ESPN).
The Pacers chose to stand pat at the trade deadline because they believed in the roster they had assembled, per Fred Katz of The Athletic. Even though there are looming financial issues for 2025/26 and three Eastern Conference teams appeared to be clearly ahead of them, Indiana’s front office didn’t search the market for a deal to cut salary or drastically change the roster.

NBA Finals Notes: Game 1, Haliburton, Carlisle, Nembhard, Presentation

June 6th, 2025 at 10:14am CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers continue to defy the odds in these NBA playoffs, pulling off an improbable fourth-quarter comeback for a fourth consecutive series and a second straight Game 1. Indiana didn’t hold a lead on Thursday in Oklahoma City until Tyrese Haliburton made a jumper that put the team up 111-110 with 0.3 seconds left on the game clock. It was the fourth time during the 2025 postseason that Haliburton has converted a game-winning or game-tying shot with less than five seconds remaining, notes Jamal Collier of ESPN.

“I don’t know what you say about it, but I know that this group is a resilient group,” Haliburton said. “And we don’t give up until it’s 0.0 on the clock.”

The Pacers turned the ball over 24 times and attempted just 82 field goals and 21 free throws on the night, compared to six turnovers, 98 field goal attempts, and 24 free throws for the Thunder. But a strong shooting performance that included a 46.2% mark from beyond the arc (18-of-39) kept Indiana within striking distance.

Haliburton didn’t play a major part in the Pacers’ three-point success, scoring just 14 points and knocking down 2-of-7 shots from long range. However, his teammates had full trust in their point guard when he raced up the court with the ball in his hands during that final possession.

“I swear as soon as he jumped up to shoot, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s good,'” Pacers wing Aaron Nesmith said, according to Collier. “Every time it’s in his hands in those situations, I just think it’s good.”

“(He has) ultimate, ultimate confidence in himself,” center Myles Turner added, per Grant Afseth of Hardwood Heroics. “Some players will say they have it but there’s other players that show it, and he’s going to let you know about it, too. That’s one of the things I respect about him. He’s a baller and a hooper and really just a gamer. When it comes to the moments, he wants the ball. He wants to be the one to hit that shot. He doesn’t shy away from the moment, and it is very important this time of the year to have a go-to guy. He just keeps finding a way, and we keep putting the ball in the right positions, and the rest is history.”

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Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle, who has spent 23 seasons as an NBA coach and won a title in 2011 in Dallas, said on Thursday that he has a special appreciation for this Pacers team, as Afseth relays. “It’s a group I love,” Carlisle said. “It’s a group that we’ve invested a lot in — in how we were going to draft, who we were going to draft, and development. From a coaching perspective, I’m proud of this year because not only did we win enough games to get into the top four, but we are still developing players.”
The Game 1 loss was similar to the Thunder’s other home loss during these playoffs, when they let a 13-point fourth quarter lead slip away in Game 3 of the conference semifinals vs. Denver, notes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. The Thunder came back in that series after falling behind 2-1 as a result of that home loss, so while they were disappointed by Thursday’s outcome, they’re confident in their ability to bounce back. “It sucks, but we have been here before,” Jalen Williams said, while head coach Mark Daigneault added, “We would’ve liked to win tonight, but tonight was a starting point, not an end point.” As MacMahon writes, Oklahoma City is 4-0 after losses during these playoffs, with an average margin of victory of 20.5 points per game.
With Isaiah Hartenstein removed from the starting lineup and limited to just 17 minutes of action, the Thunder were out-rebounded 56-39 by one of the league’s worst rebounding teams. “Some of it is the cost of doing business,” Daigneault said of sticking with a smaller lineup, per Kelly Iko of The Athletic. “To be able to get perimeter speed on the court, get more switching in the game. It’s obviously something that is a tradeoff. I thought the small lineup at the end of the first half looked pretty good. That’s why I went back to it down the stretch. When we’re small, we have to be pressure-oriented and contain the ball. I thought they got some cracks against us that hurt us a little bit more than the post-ups did.”
While Haliburton was the Game 1 hero, Andrew Nembhard deserves a lot of credit for helping the Pacers stay in the game and complete their comeback, according to David Aldridge of The Athletic. In addition to hitting a big three-pointer in the game’s final minutes, Nembhard served as the primary defender on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 38 points but needed 30 shots to do it. “If there wasn’t the 65-game rule, he’s an All-Defensive guy, plain and simple,” Haliburton said of Nembhard. “We have the most trust in him. Shai is the hardest guard in the NBA. He’s the hardest guy to cover one-on-one in the NBA. So there’s no one look we can give him that is going to work every time. We trust Drew in those situations.”
Amid myriad complaints on social media that Game 1 of the NBA Finals felt like just another regular season contest, Dan Shanoff of The Athletic offers three suggestions that the NBA and ABC could make for the rest of the series to improve the presentation, including putting the Finals logo on the court and showing the in-arena starting lineup introductions on the TV broadcast.

Pacers Notes: Nesmith, Haliburton, Bradley, Walker

June 5th, 2025 at 8:40pm CST by Arthur Hill

Aaron Nesmith went to the NBA Finals in 2022, but in a much smaller role than he’ll have this year, writes Souichi Terada of MassLive. Nesmith was in his second NBA season when Boston faced Golden State three years ago, and he mostly made limited appearances in the playoffs. His career didn’t take off until he was traded to Indiana shortly after that series ended.

Speaking at Finals media day on Wednesday, Nesmith said the Pacers got a lesson in how to handle an extended playoff run after being ousted in the conference finals last season.

“We just learned how hard it is to get here and not taking being in this position for granted,” he said. “Understanding most guys don’t play this long into the season, into the year. Just having our bodies right, our legs underneath us. I think it’s very helpful.”

Nesmith played a huge role in helping Indiana reach the Finals for the first time in 25 years. He’s averaging 14.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 16 playoff games while shooting 50% from three-point range. He was the hero of the Game 1 victory against New York, scoring 20 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter.

Nesmith acknowledges that his team is a huge underdog against Oklahoma City, but he believes the key to an upset will be dictating the style of play.

“Continue to play Pacers basketball,” he said. “That’s what got us here. I think that’s what’s going to help us succeed in the Finals. That’s what we’re going to have to do.”

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Tyrese Haliburton gets inspired when he hears people dismiss his team, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. The Pacers weren’t favored to beat Cleveland or New York, but have compiled a 12-4 record in the playoffs, the same as the Thunder. “I’ll continue to tell you guys in certain moments that it doesn’t matter what people say, but it matters — and I enjoy it,” Haliburton said. “I think the greats try to find external motivation as much as they can and that’s something that’s always worked for me.”
Haliburton shared details of the team’s flight to Oklahoma City, which had to be diverted due to weather and wound up arriving more than three hours late, per Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files (subscription required). “We took off, and I slept the whole plane ride, which I don’t normally do,” Haliburton said. “We landed, I was ready to get up. They said we were in Tulsa. We sat there for another hour. Then took off again. Felt like we were in the air for another hour and a half. … So, like a five-hour travel day. We might as well travel to Portland.”
Backup center Tony Bradley has some familiarity with his Finals opponent after being sent to Oklahoma City as part of a three-team deal at the 2021 trade deadline. Bradley, who appeared in 22 games during his time with the Thunder, told Clemente Almanza of OKC Thunder Wire that he enjoyed watching Shai Gilgeous-Alexander develop into a star. “Honestly, he’s the same player. When I was here, he was just getting more recognition,” Bradley said. “Of course, he’s improved since I’ve been with him, but I’ve seen the potential was there.”
As expected, Jarace Walker isn’t available for Game 1 of the NBA Finals after spraining his right ankle in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Bradley, who has been dealing with a left hip flexor strain, is active.

Pacers Notes: Nesmith, Haliburton, Canadians

June 5th, 2025 at 11:05am CST by Luke Adams

Aaron Nesmith didn’t miss any games after spraining his right ankle in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals vs. New York, but playing through the injury wasn’t easy, according to the Pacers wing, who was limited to 16 minutes in Game 5 and just under 20 in Game 6, his two lowest totals of the postseason (he also had some foul trouble in Game 6).

“It took a lot (to return for Game 4),” Nesmith said on Wednesday, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. “It was pretty much rehab every minute of that day. It was cold tub, game-ready, hyperbaric chambers, it was red light therapy. It was manual wave, it was shock wave. Anything you could name we kinda threw it at the ankle, but there was no chance I was missing that game.”

Although the Pacers haven’t had as much rest between the conference finals and the start of the NBA Finals as the Thunder, Indiana still had four full days off prior to Thursday’s Game 1. Few Pacers appreciated those off-days more than Nesmith.

“I needed ’em,” he said. “I was looking forward to these days off. I took ’em, and I’ll be ready.”

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Given the challenges the NBA has faced over the years trying to find a way to stop teams from tanking, the league should be rejoicing that Indiana has made it to this year’s NBA Finals, writes Jason Lloyd of The Athletic. As Lloyd details, team owner Herb Simon has long had an aversion to tanking, so the Pacers have never really done it — the club was stuck in the middle at times, but has won fewer than 32 games in a season just once in the past 35 years.
Following an on-court altercation with Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo at the end of the Pacers’ first-round series win, Tyrese Haliburton‘s father John Haliburton was effectively banned from attending games. However, that ban was lifted for Pacers home games midway through the Eastern Conference Finals as long as the elder Haliburton watched from a suite. For the NBA Finals, he won’t be prohibited from attending games at either arena, Dopirak writes for The Indianapolis Star. “I think the commentary around my dad got a little ridiculous,” Tyrese said. “Of course, I’m going to say that. I’m his son. It got a little over the top. He was wrong. That is what it is. I don’t think any of us want to be defined by our worst moments. That’s just sports media. Sometimes we just take a super good thing or a super bad thing and overblow it. It is what it is. He’s learned from it. It won’t happen again. Love my pops dearly. Really thankful he’s going to be in the building along with me on this journey.”
Both teams competing in the NBA Finals have multiple Canadians on their rosters, with Andrew Nembhard and Bennedict Mathurin representing the Pacers and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort competing for the Thunder. Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca takes a look at the shared history among those players, three of whom represented Canada in last year’s Olympics, while Julian McKenzie of The Athletic specifically examines the bond between Montreal natives Mathurin and Dort, who grew up minutes from one another and each describes the other as being like “a brother.”

Pacers Notes: Pierce, Haliburton, Flight, Defending SGA, Underdog Role

June 4th, 2025 at 3:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Lloyd Pierce had a rough two-and-a-half seasons as a head coach with the Hawks from 2018-21. Pierce, now one of Rick Carlisle‘s top assistants with the Pacers, is hoping for another shot at being an NBA head coach, he told Marc J. Spears of Andscape.

“I took a head coaching job and I learned a lot,” Pierce said. “I want to be able to prove to myself. More than anything, I want to propel an organization to where we are right now, the NBA Finals.

“Every competitor struggles with the day they were let go. And so, everything you do moving forward is first self-awareness, and then second it’s do what you need to do to get back in that seat and prove everybody wrong, and more importantly prove it to yourself. And I’m definitely more about proving myself, and so I’m not stressing over it. But I definitely feel like I deserve an opportunity to get back in that seat again.”

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Considering the team’s slow start, the Pacers made an unexpected rise to the top of the Eastern Conference. Star guard Tyrese Haliburton plans to savor his first taste of the NBA Finals, Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star writes. “This is a really exciting time for me personally to have this opportunity,” Haliburton said. “This is something I’ve wanted to do my whole life. Last year, having playoff success in my first playoff run and being unsuccessful to start the season, for me I thought a lot about, wow, maybe I took last year for granted. I didn’t know what the playoffs were going to look like as the year was going on. I didn’t know if we’d be a play-in team or where we’d stack up in the end with how we were playing early in the year. I’m definitely not taking this for granted. Learning to appreciate every day and remember all these days as best as I can.”
The Pacers’ flight to Oklahoma City on Tuesday took an unexpected turn. The team’s charter flight was first diverted to Tulsa due to severe weather in Oklahoma. Then, after refueling there, the plane was re-routed around another band of weather before finally landing in Oklahoma City about three-and-a-half hours behind schedule, according to The Associated Press.
How will they defend Thunder star guard and Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander? Rylan Stiles of Sports Illustrated tackles that topic, speculating that Andrew Nembhard will likely serve as the point-of-attack defender. Stiles also anticipates the Pacers will attempt to clog the driving lanes as SGA works to get to his spots at the elbow, the baseline and the rim.
The Pacers are heavy underdogs to win the championship and they’re comfortable in that role, Dopirak writes. “We’ve all been doubted at some point in time of our lives,” Carlisle said. “You look in the mirror, you gotta face the doubts and you decide, how are you going to go forward? Are you going to fight through and find a way or are you going to find an excuse. Our team is a bunch of guys who have found a way in a lot of different situations.”

Pacers Notes: Finals Odds, Siakam, Turnaround, Turner

June 3rd, 2025 at 5:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The oddsmakers and bettors don’t believe the Pacers have much of a chance in the Finals against the Thunder. At BetMGM, the Pacers have +500 odds to win the championship, making them the biggest underdogs in the NBA Finals since the Cavaliers in 2018, Prince J. Grimes of the Indianapolis Star notes. The Warriors won those Finals in a sweep.

In fact, the oddsmakers believe it will be a quick series. The betting favorite for the length of the series is a 4-1 Thunder victory. Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the huge favorite to win Finals MVP at -625 odds with Tyrese Haliburton a distant second at +700.

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Pascal Siakam has developed into the ideal second star for the Pacers, Eric Koreen of The Athletic writes. Koreen outlines how Siakam has expanded his game over the years, both before and since the trade that sent him from Toronto to Indiana. Siakam, named the Most Valuable Player of the Eastern Conference Finals, is averaging 21.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists while shooting a blistering 46.3 percent from long range in 16 postseason games.
Siakam was instrumental in the team’s turnaround from a 10-15 start, particularly by offering words of encouragement to Haliburton, who was struggling with his shooting at the time, as Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star details. Ramping up their pressure defense and inserting Aaron Nesmith into the starting lineup were some of the other keys to the Pacers’ dramatic rise to the top of the Eastern Conference.
Myles Turner believes the era of the “super team,” with established All-Stars banding together to win the championship, has ended. “I think it’s a new blueprint for the league,” Turner said, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “I think the years of the super teams and stacking, it’s just not as effective as it once was, you know what I mean? Since I’ve been in the league, the NBA has been very trendy; it just shifts. But the new trend now is just kind of what we’re doing. OKC does the same thing — young guys get out and run, defend and use the power of friendship.”

NBA Finals Notes: Thunder, Pacers, MVPs, Market Size, More

June 3rd, 2025 at 10:20am CST by Luke Adams

A blockbuster 2017 trade between the Thunder and Pacers helped set the stage for the 2025 NBA Finals, writes Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. On June 30 of that year, Oklahoma City agreed to send Domantas Sabonis and Victor Oladipo to Indiana in exchange for Paul George.

None of those players will be playing in these NBA Finals, but George and Sabonis were later used to acquire several of this series’ stars. Sending George to the Clippers in 2019 netted the Thunder a trade package that included Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the future draft pick that eventually became Jalen Williams. As for the Pacers, they dealt Sabonis to Sacramento at the 2022 trade deadline as part of the six-player trade that landed Tyrese Haliburton in Indiana.

As Anthony Slater of The Athletic writes, you can go back even further to find the key trade that instigated the series of roster moves that saw Oklahoma City acquire George.

Back in 2008, then-SuperSonics general manager Sam Presti was able to extract two first-round picks from Phoenix to take on Kurt Thomas‘ unwanted salary and get the Suns out of the tax. Presti used the first of those picks to draft Serge Ibaka, who was traded in 2016 to Orlando for Oladipo and Sabonis — the exact package that the Thunder used a year later to land George.

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Gilgeous-Alexander and Haliburton rank first and second, in that order, in two lists published today by ESPN.com. In the first, Tim Bontemps ranks the 2025 postseason MVPs, with the Thunder and Pacers point guards leap-frogging Jalen Brunson for the top spots following the conference finals. In the second, Bontemps and Kevin Pelton rank the top 20 players in the NBA Finals, with Pascal Siakam, Williams, and Chet Holmgren rounding out the top five.
Indianapolis is the 25th-largest media market in the United States, while Oklahoma City comes in at No. 47. Will a spring showdown between two small-market franchises affect the NBA’s bottom line? According to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic, while the revenue generated by merchandise and ticket sales may fell well short of a New York-vs.-Los Angeles-type Finals, the league won’t really have to worry about a one-year ratings dip after having finalized a new long-term media rights deal in 2024. “There’s really no direct impact between ratings and financial success, certainly in the near term,” a former senior NBA executive told The Athletic. “If you have bad ratings for the next decade then that limits your TV rights. But I don’t think anyone in the NBA is worried about that right now because the revenues for TV are guaranteed.”
Law Murray of The Athletic takes a closer look at how the Thunder and Pacers compare to one another in terms of the possession battle. As Murray details, neither team turns the ball over much, but Indiana has been the worst offensive rebounding team of the 16 clubs in the playoffs and doesn’t force opponent turnovers at nearly the same rate as Oklahoma City. Neutralizing the Thunder’s usual advantage in possessions and shot attempts will give the Pacers their best chance at pulling off the upset.

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