Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton asks for changes in future In-Season Tournament formats

Tyrese Haliburton recently admitted that the Pacers are “hungry to stay in the spotlight” as they are heading into the In-Season Tournament’s semifinals in Las Vegas. The Indiana star has been nothing short of spectacular during the team’s five games in the competition, and he wants to keep the momentum going as he’s ready to face Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks this Thursday.

During their most recent practice in Nevada, he posed with the NBA Cup (even dared to touch it) and attended the press to talk about his historic start of the campaign. One of the most interesting topics was if the league’s new tournament should suffer any changes in format for its second edition.

After Monday’s impressive victory against the Boston Celtics, the rising superstar revealed he had trouble sleeping due to the excitement around his squad, as it was one of the biggest nights in Indiana history.

Tyrese Haliburton in our 5 In-Season Tournament games:

28 PPG
13.4 APG
5.2 RPG
50.5 FG%
46.4 3P% pic.twitter.com/ElpYh2RzBy

— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) December 5, 2023

“To get a taste of playing on national TV is cool,” Haliburton revealed. “You want to keep doing it, and you’ve got to win to do that.”

The young point guard now knows he must turn the page and concentrate on facing one of the main title contenders for this 2023/24 NBA campaign. Tyrese is out for revenge as Milwaukee beat them last month in a tight 126-124 loss.

“The better we play, the more love we’re gonna get,” said the 23-year-old. “We’ve got to take that in stride and understand that can be a poison in a sense at the same time.”

As for the In-Season Tournament, Haliburton made a couple of suggestions on how the competition could improve in the following years. He was most emphatic when he mentioned he wishes to “avoid the tiebreaker mess” that not only confused fans, but also upset many athletes.

“I’m curious to see what changes next year,” the Pacers star admitted. “Maybe playing a couple more games, maybe outside of your group or in the other conference, playing more games to have different scenarios with tiebreakers and make it make a little more sense.”

Players aren’t clear if the winning team should hang an In-Season Tournament championship banner if they conquer the cup

As only four teams remain in the NBA’s new competition, most players can’t seem to agree on whether winning the In-Season Tournament deserves a banner in their city’s arena. Haliburton was one that sounded very excited about participating in the first semifinals and does feel that hanging the championship banner is a good idea.

However, he understands that maybe players like four-time champion LeBron James wouldn’t necessarily agree with him. “I think at this point in my career, because I haven’t done anything yet, I’ll take a banner, but certainly Bron would not answer the same way,” the 23-year-old said on Wednesday.

When New Orleans coach Willie Green was asked about the same possibility, he had no doubt about it. “Absolutely,” he said with pride.

Maybe both the Pelicans and Pacers enthusiasm is due to the facts that neither franchise has ever conquered an NBA title, and are at the doorsteps of creating history this In-Season Tournament.