Tyrese Haliburton reportedly to return to Pacers lineup Tuesday vs. Celtics
Tyrese Haliburton — voted an All-Star starter and in the midst of a breakout season — is likely to return to the Pacers lineup Tuesday when Indiana takes on Boston, according to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Haliburton has missed 10 of Indiana's last 11 games. He was out five games with a strained hamstring, pushed to return to play in the debut of Pascal Siakam with the Pacers, only to aggravate the injury and have to sit out five more games (and he didn't look like himself in that one game he did play).
Indiana has won the last three games without Haliburton as Siakam has found a groove with this roster, but the Pacers already elite offense moves to another level with Haliburton running the show. He is averaging 23.6 points and a league-leading 12.6 assists a game, while shooting 40% from 3.
In the short term, if he's back and healthy, it means Haliburton will be able to play in the All-Star game, which the Pacers are hosting in Indiana on Feb. 18. It will be a huge weekend for Haliburton.
In the longer term, expect Haliburton to push to play in nearly every Pacers game the rest of the season — he has 41 million reasons to do so. Haliburton signed a max contract extension with Indiana last summer — five years, $205.9 million — but that number can go up by $41 million if he makes an All-NBA team. He is on pace to do just that (maybe first-team), but he has to play in 65 games to qualify for postseason awards under the league's new player participation rule. If he returns Tuesday, Haliburton will have missed 13 games this season — players can miss 17 games and still qualify, get to 18 or more and they don't get to the threshold (which is just less than 80% of games played).
It may take a few games for Haliburton and Siakam to find a groove together, but when they do this team becomes a tough out in the playoffs.
