INDIANAPOLIS — Finally, we’re here.
The Indiana Pacers avoided a trip back to New York on Saturday by comfortably eliminating the New York Knicks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. Now the Pacers will face a dominant Oklahoma Thunder team for the title beginning Thursday in Oklahoma City.
Critics invariably will frame the Pacers-Thunder NBA Finals as a matchup between two so-called small market teams. I choose to frame the Finals as a refreshing, highly anticipated matchup between two of the NBA’s brightest young backcourt stars: the Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton and the Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
A number of legacies will be on the line.
While Oklahoma City last won the Western Conference title in 2012 and the Pacers won the Eastern Conference in 2000, neither franchise has won an NBA title (the Pacers won three American Basketball Association championships; the Thunder’s former team identity, the Seattle SuperSonics, won an NBA title in 1979).
What’s more fascinating is the road that has led two young stars — Haliburton, 25, and Gilgeous-Alexander, 26 — to the Finals.
Neither player enjoyed instant NBA success; indeed, each player was traded earlier in his career.
Haliburton was drafted 12th overall by the Sacramento Kings in 2020. Two years later, he was traded to the Pacers in a package that included Domantas Sabonis. By 2023, he was selected to the NBA All-Star team as a reserve, and last season he was named to the All-Star team as a starter (over Knicks guard Jalen Brunson).
While Gilgeous-Alexander’s rise has been steady, there has been an up-and-down pattern to Haliburton’s rise. Last season, Haliburton was outstanding during the postseason but was forced out of the conference finals by an injury. He subsequently was named to the U.S. Olympic basketball team but rarely saw playing time in Paris. And while the accomplishment of making the Olympic team was a plus, he admitted that the disappointment of not playing shook his confidence in a way that may have contributed to his slow start this season.
Haliburton admitted to ESPN’s Jamal Collier that he was motivated to prove his detractors wrong, declaring “When the season starts, I’m like, ‘I’m going to go now. I’m going to get back at y’all.”
Instead, he started slowly this season, thanks in large part to the injury that forced him out of the 2024 playoffs.
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While Gilgeous-Alexander was cooking in Oklahoma City, Haliburton — for the first time since the 2021-22 season — did not make the All-Star team. With Haliburton, there has been considerable debate about the extent to which his stardom was earned or manufactured by his outgoing, exuberant style. There has been no such debate surrounding Gilgeous-Alexander, which makes this Finals matchup so enticing.
In April, The Athletic released an anonymous poll of 150 players on a variety of topics. The responses that drew the most attention were about the likely MVP winner and which player was overrated.
A majority of players responded that Gilgeous-Alexander would be this year’s MVP. They were correct. But asked who the NBA’s most overrated player in this year’s poll was the winner — or loser — was Haliburton.
Whether or not the poll results had anything to do with his about-face, Haliburton has been on a tear for the last two months. He has averaged 18.7 points and 9.0 assist per game during the playoffs. More significantly, Haliburton (and, in one instance, a family member) has had signature or at least memorable playoff performances.
Against the Milwaukee Bucks, Haliburton made a game-winning layup with 1.3 seconds left to give the Pacers a 4-1 series win. But after the game Haliburton’s father, John, raced on the court and confronted two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Haliburton, to his credit, apologized for his father’s behavior and said he was OK with a temporary ban imposed by the team and the NBA. Still, guilt by association is a real thing.
In a Game 1 victory over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, Haliburton’s last-second shot sent the game into overtime. But here’s the thing: Haliburton thought he had hit a game-winning 3-pointer and celebrated prematurely by grabbing his throat a la the Reggie Miller gesture in a 1994 playoff victory over the Knicks. Haliburton’s shot was ruled a two pointer, and Indiana had to win in overtime.
In Game 4, Haliburton was historic: 32 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds in a 130-121 victory at the Garden. He followed that performance with a poor outing in Game 5. Haliburton was also quiet in the first half of Game 6 when he scored just eight points. But he helped spark the Pacers’ second-half breakthrough and finished with 21 points and 13 assists.
After Saturday’s game, Haliburton gave his teammates a heartfelt shoutout for how they helped him overcome his early woes.
“I can’t even really put into words, because where I was earlier in the year was really tough for me and I’m just really appreciative of those guys, appreciative of this moment and the fans, and everybody’s sticking with people in my family and my loved ones,” Haliburton said.
After the game, Pacers center Myles Turner said: “You know, going to this playoff, the whole overrated thing. I mean, obviously we know that’s dead now; it’s not much you can say now about that. I’m just proud of the way he’s handled everything.”
David L. Nemec /NBAE via Getty Images
In contrast, Gilgeous-Alexander’s arc has been steady and, except for being derided as a foul merchant, free from controversy.
He was drafted by Charlotte in 2018 and traded the same day to the Los Angeles Clippers. Then in 2019, the Clippers — looking for a short-term fix — traded Gilgeous Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, and five first-round picks to the Thunder for Paul George.
His progress has been steady. He was faced with injuries, which he overcame, and a new environment which he embraced. Four years after the trade to OKC, Gilgeous-Alexander was named to the All-Star team as a reserve. By season’s end he made First Team All-NBA. Last season, Gilgeous-Alexander was MVP runner-up. This year, he won the MVP award and the scoring title.
Now the NBA’s brightest young stars will meet in the Finals.
What is inescapable, perhaps because of the market size, is what each player means to his respective fans base. A couple hours after Indiana had defeated the Knicks to earn the franchise’s first trip to the NBA Finals in 25 years, a reporter asked Turner about the significance of Haliburton.
“When it comes to being a superstar, you got to take everything that comes with it — the highs and the lows, the good and the bad,” Turner said. “From how this season started, to how he was getting trashed, and everybody was basically trying to turn their heads to him, he just kept his head down and kept working.
“It’s a lot of pressure being that main guy. People don’t think about the off-court stuff that you’ve got to handle as well. I think he’s done a great job. It’s all happened so fast for him. He’s done a great job of just closing himself and showing up when it matters the most.”
The question of whether Haliburton and Gilgeous-Alexander are stars, mega stars or super stars is up for discussion and vigorous debate.
The debate will begin on Thursday in Oklahoma City.
I can’t wait.
