Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton was one of 12 players selected to represent the United States in the 2024 Olympics, and he claims that there was plenty of NBA recruiting happening among the members of Team USA.
“I recruited every guy on that team basically,” Haliburton said. “Anyone that wants to come join us in Indiana, I’m all for it.”
He also said that he expects some stars from Team USA to team up in the NBA in the future.
“There will probably something that comes out of it,” said Haliburton when asked if any stars from the most recent gold medal-winning team plan to join forces. “I definitely got recruited, but I’m not going anywhere.”
Haliburton is a member of a Pacers team that may be one major acquisition away from title contention. Indiana’s front office has constructed a talented roster around Haliburton, as Pascal Siakam is a bona fide star, Myles Turner is one of the better big men in the NBA today and Andrew Nembhard turned a lot of heads with his play during the Pacers’ playoff run last season.
The Pacers were one of the breakout teams of the 2024 NBA Playoffs. Indiana finished the 2023-24 regular season as the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference, yet the team reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2014.
On top of that, while the Pacers were swept by the Boston Celtics in the conference finals, Indiana debatably gave the 2024 NBA champions a bigger run for their money than any other squad did during Boston’s title run.
Three of the Pacers’ four games versus the Celtics came down to the wire, and Indiana seemed primed to win Games 1 and 3 of the best-of-seven series.
In Game 1, Indiana held a three-point lead with mere seconds remaining in the contest. But Jaylen Brown hit a game-tying 3-pointer in the closing moments of regulation, and the Celtics went on to win the game in overtime.
Then, in Game 3, the Pacers were ahead by as many as 18 points in the second half of the game. Indiana lost the contest by three points, however, after the squad scored only 21 points in the fourth quarter.
Indiana — who averaged a league-high 123.3 points per game during the 2023-24 regular season — projects to be a real threat to make a deep playoff run once again in the year 2025.
