“Wasn’t a Couple Hundred Dollars!”: Having Taken $102,073,683 From Pacers, Paul George Relates to Tyrese Haliburton’s Fine Trouble in Indiana

Tyrese Haliburton broke out during his rookie season with the Sacramento Kings, being known as the best point guard behind LaMelo Ball in his draft class. With his stock being incredibly high at the time, the franchise traded him to the Indiana Pacers. And it is with them that the young guard recently signed a 5-year, $260 million extension. And soon after, he made an appearance on Paul George’s podcast, ‘Podcast P’ to talk about the culture of the franchise, along with some harsh fines the organization applies.

Paul George may be a Clipper now, but from 2010 to 2017, he was one of the best players in the NBA at Indiana Pacers. In that period, the 33-year-old earned a total of $102,073,683 in NBA salaries. During his time there, he was even touted to be someone who could rival LeBron James, with the two having some intense playoff battles against each other. However, due to George’s infamous leg injury, he never quite got to that level.

Tyrese Haliburton and Paul George come together to rant about the Indiana Pacers’ fines

The Indiana Pacers, much like the Miami Heat, have been known to have a highly disciplinarian environment. Players aren’t allowed to fall out of line for the things that matter. The biggest example of this is the fact that players get fined if they ever come late to meetings of any kind. And apparently, this kind of culture is something both George and Haliburton were in the mood humorously rant about. Here is what they said, as seen in the YouTube video by ‘Podcast P by Paul George’.

Haliburton: “If I’m at 8:45 treatment, and I walk in there 8:47, he just say ‘what up?’. Everything is sweet. Then I get to my locker and go ‘what is this?!’ it’s a fine!”

George: “You late for 2 mins. And you could be in the building, but if you ain’t on that table at 8:45…”

Question: How much is the fine?

George: … “It’s not a couple a hundred dollars!”

Haliburton: “Not a couple hundred for sure”

It is a bit unfortunate considering how much money Haliburton could stand to lose due to being a meager minute late at times. However, this is the kind of environment that fosters the best in players. The franchise simply seems to be big believers in the saying ‘if you want to be great, if you’re not early, you’re late’.

Haliburton is set to lose a small fortune in taxes

Michael Jordan was an incredible basketball player, one of the greatest to ever step on the court. However, he is also the reason, Haliburton will have to give away far too much money to the government.

A rule that was put forth in the NBA during the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird era, and made popular by Jordan, has seen many athletes lose money due to a frankly slightly unfair law. Read all the details of how the Pacers guard became the latest victim of it here.