Tyrese Haliburton recently made an appearance on The Old Man and The Three podcast and spoke to JJ Redick about the early return he’s made to the team’s lineup after sustaining a hamstring injury. While understanding why the league introduced a 65-game mandate, the Indiana Pacers star explained that he’s avoiding missing any more games to be eligible for a $53 million incentive.
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Before the 2023-2024 season commenced, the NBA released its Player Participation Policy. According to the new mandates, players who participate in 20+ minutes in at least 65 games in the season will only be eligible to be considered for the season-end accolades.
During this off-season, Tyrese Haliburton signed a massive five-year, $260 million contract extension with the Pacers. According to the terms of the deal, for Haliburton to be eligible for a $53 million incentive he needs to either win the 2024 MVP, DPOY, or receive an All-NBA Team selection.
The pass-first guard revealed how important it was for him to suit up, despite being injured over a year ago, to have a shot at being rewarded with an All-NBA Team selection. While speaking to JJ Redick, the 2024 All-Star starter didn’t mince his words when admitting that the $53 million incentive is what motivated him to make an early return from his injury.
“If this was never the case ($53 million incentive), I might have been like – maybe give it another game or two you know, let me think more through this. Let’s try to be 100%.”
While agreeing that the NBA’s intent with these new mandates is in the best interest of the fans, he also explained how players like him might monetarily suffer because of the same.
“I’ve just been frustrated by it completely but I understand where the league is coming from. Listen, at the end of the day I’m a fan of basketball like everybody is. We want the best players to play,” Haliburton revealed.
While Haliburton is still healthy and in contention to win his incentive, Joel Embiid suffered deeply due to the mandate. Despite having his knee injured, the Philadelphia 76ers leader suited up for a few more games with hopes to win the 2024 MVP. Instead of retaining the Michael Jordan Trophy, Embiid aggravated his injury and is now set to miss 4 weeks.
Tyrese Haliburton has already missed 14 games this season
On 8th January, during the Boston Celtics-Indiana Pacers contest, Tyrese Haliburton hurt his hamstring while trying to pump the brakes. After lying down on the floor for a good amount of time, Haliburton had to be carried off the floor.
A day after, reports suggested that the 23-year-old had suffered a Grade 1 left hamstring strain. Even though Hali avoided a major injury, he had to be sidelined for numerous games.
He sat out till the third week of January, suiting up against the Portland Trail Blazers for 35 minutes. After the loss, the team decided to keep him out for an extended period. He only made his return on 30th January and was on a minutes restriction for the following few games.
While he did play 30+ minutes in the contests against the New York Knicks, the Charlotte Hornets, and the Toronto Raptors. In total, the floor general has missed out on 14 games. He can only miss a total of three more games for the remainder (26 games) of the season to be eligible for his well-deserved All-NBA selection.
