Haliburton’s message to Pacers teammates as new season begins

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The season might be new, but the goals remain the same for the Indiana Pacers. Win an NBA title.

The Blue and Gold were back together for the first time Monday during Media Day at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The team looks a bit different than the one that went all the way to Game 7 of the NBA Finals in June. All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton is expected to miss the entire season as he continues to recover from Achilles surgery. Longtime center Myles Turner left for a bigger contract in Milwaukee. That leaves two of the starting five open — for now.

Even with the slight change in personnel, the Pacers still have their sites set on a championship. That’s Haliburton’s main message to his teammates as he continues to be a part of team activities, just from the sidelines.

“The standard is the standard. It doesn’t matter if I suit up or don’t,” Haliburton said. “We’ve created a culture her that matters, that matters to me, that matters to a lot of people as Indiana fans, it matters to every guy in that locker room. I think when you have something special like that you have to cherish that and take care of that. The fact that I’m not playing doesn’t change anything.”

The Pacers aren’t throwing up their hands and counting this season as a loss before it even tips off because the face of the franchise can’t play. In fact, Haliburton expects the exact opposite.

“Guys are still expected to show up to work, put in the work do all the same things,” Haliburton said. “With me not playing, obviously I can’t control what’s going on on the court a ton. But I can control the culture that’s being set here and what the standard is and making sure that it’s maintained.”

In terms of last year’s storybook sprint to the NBA Finals, Haliburton admits he hasn’t gone back to watch those incredible games with more than a couple buzzer-beating gems.

“I don’t think that I’m quite yet prepared to go back and watch games just because it’s hard for me because of the way it ended and all those things,” Haliburton said. “But it’s something that I think about a lot and something I’ll cherish for a long time.”

The ending might not have been as fairytale as the journey, but Haliburton said nothing’s compared to this summer’s postseason.

“I want to remember that for the rest of my life because that was the most fun I’ve had playing basketball,” Haliburton said. “We did some very historic things, but I think that the goal for me is to create many more memories for Indiana sports fans and myself personally that surpass this.”

The Pacers tip off the 2025-26 season against the team that cost them a championship — the Oklahoma City Thunder — Thursday, Oct. 23 in Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

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