Tyrese Haliburton entered the 2024-25 season with high expectations after his terrific campaign last season. He led the Indiana Pacers to a surprise run to the Eastern Conference Finals during the 2024 playoffs and was expected to help the franchise finish among the top four teams this year.
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However, his play has been underwhelming thus far. His inability to take over games has hurt his squad massively, and they have lost five out of their nine games this season. Should the Pacers be concerned about his early-season struggles or will he bounce back sooner than later?
Haliburton’s production is down across the board
Haliburton has struggled massively as a scorer. He is tallying only 14.7 points per game on an abysmal 37.4% shooting from the field, including a horrendous 25.4% from beyond the arc. He’s also converting a subpar 75% of his free-throw attempts.
These shooting splits are by far the worst of his career. For comparison, last season, he put up 20.1 points per game on 47.7% shooting from the field while making 2.8 three-pointers on 36.4% shooting. He also shot a terrific 85.5% from the free-throw line.
While it is true that Haliburton prefers being a floor general and thrives on setting his teammates up for easy buckets, he hasn’t been as impactful in that regard either. Last season, he dished a league-high 10.9 assists per game but this season, the number has gone down to 7.7.
And unfortunately for the Pacers, their success is predicated on Haliburton playing well.
How Haliburton’s lack of production has affected his team
The guard hasn’t shown much intensity late in games to get the job done for his team. During the 20-point night loss against the Hornets on Friday, he finished with 0 field goals and made just two free throws in the final quarter.
In the eight-point loss to the Pelicans earlier this month, he attempted just one three-pointer and missed. In the Pacers’ 114-118 overtime loss against the 76ers last month, he missed two potential game-tying free throws late in the game.
His unwillingness to shoot and inability to make clutch shots have hurt Indiana. Last season, Haliburton helped the Pacers become the best offensive team in the league because he knew when to be assertive as a scorer.
However, his impact in that role has been severely limited this season. If he is a non-factor on the floor, it allows the opposition to tighten up the screws on his teammates which has been one of the biggest reasons behind Pacers’ slide.
At the same stage last season, Indiana was 6-3 and Haliburton averaged 23.7 points per game while the Pacers had a league-best 124.1 scoring average. This year, they are averaging 114.1 points and are 12th in the NBA in that category.
But it’s not all doom and gloom for Indiana. There are plenty of instances of a player of his caliber finding their rhythm as the season progresses. A poor start to the year doesn’t mean he’ll continue to struggle for the rest of the campaign.
However, if Haliburton doesn’t bounce back soon, the Pacers will have a lot of ground to cover and their chances of making a deep run in the playoffs will take a huge hit.
