Tyrese Haliburton All-NBA Nod Keeps Financial Clock Moving With Pacers

NEW YORK – Indiana Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton is an All-NBA player once again. The NBA announced the 2025 All-NBA teams on Friday night, and Haliburton was named to the third team for the second-straight season.

Haliburton, who made an All-NBA team for the first time in 2024, had a slow start to the 2024-25 season. He, and the Pacers, struggled for the first month of the campaign as Haliburton didn’t feel like himself on the court.

But he recovered, and come December Haliburton was back to being one of the best guards in the association. The five-year pro described getting his joy for the game back at the time, and it showed on the court. His impact skyrocketed, and it came with wins for the Pacers.

Why Tyrese Haliburton made All-NBA

Indiana went 40-17 after the NBA Cup in early December, and Haliburton averaged 19.2 points and 9.6 assists per game in that span. For a significant portion of the season, he was excellent. His slow start could have been costly – first impressions go a long way with awards voters. But Haliburton overcame it with strong play at both the individual and team level. His team is currently winning games in the Eastern Conference Finals, and he’s an All-NBA Player once again.

“He’s been able to thrive, especially in this system, his fast pace,” Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James said of Haliburton earlier this season. “The more and more he plays, the better and better he gets.”

Haliburton finished the season averaging 18.6 points and 9.2 assists per game. Trae Young and Nikola Jokic were the only other players to reach both of those thresholds. Haliburton joins Reggie Miller, Jermaine O’Neal, and Paul George as the only players with multiple All-NBA appearances for the Pacers.

“He makes a big difference for us, obviously,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said of Haliburton in March. “Offensively, our spacing is enhanced. His skill level and passing adds a big component… there are things that are really important that he brings us.”

Alongside Haliburton on the third team is Cade Cunningham, Karl-Anthony Towns, Jalen Williams, and James Harden. Indiana forward Pascal Siakam, who was an All-Star this season, received a quartet of All-NBA votes for third-team All-NBA.

For Haliburton, this All-NBA nod could come with financial gain in the future. Last year, when Haliburton was named to a 2024 All-NBA team, his rookie-scale contract extension jumped up to a higher tier of maximum yearly salary thanks to his award honor. This year, things are different yet still beneficial.

Players with at least seven years of service in the NBA can be eligible for a Designated Player Veteran Extension (DVPE) if they achieve certain criteria and are still rostered by the team that they finished their rookie-scale contract as a member of. Those criteria are as follows:

1. Be named to one of the league’s three All-NBA teams in either the most recent season or two of the previous three, or;
2. Be named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year in either the most recent season or two of the previous three, or;
3. Be named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in one of the NBA’s prior three seasons.

Haliburton did finish his rookie-scale deal with Indiana. He’s only at five years of service, so he’s still two years away from DVPE eligibility. But making All-NBA this season is a nice start for Haliburton because of criteria number one above.

After the 2026-27 season, the Pacers star would be eligible for a supermax contract if he made an All-NBA team in either the most recent season (2026-27) or the prior two (2024-25 and 2025-26). Haliburton was just named to the 2024-25 team, which means he just has to make All-NBA in one of the next two seasons to be eligible for a monster three-year extension after the 2026-27 campaign.

That hypothetical extension wouldn’t officially kick in until the 2029-30 season. But because Haliburton would, in this case, have qualified for the supermax, his contract in that season could be worth up to 35% of the salary cap for that year. If he doesn’t ever become eligible for a DVPE, then his deal could only start at 30% of the cap at that time.

Only the Pacers can offer the DVPE to Haliburton, so they have to be thrilled that they might have an advantage when it comes to extending their star guard in a few years. Haliburton has to be equally thrilled that he could sign a contract for more money sooner. It’s a win-win, and Haliburton now has two chances to make just one All-NBA team and be eligible for this extension.

The same cycle could continue every year for Tyrese Haliburton when it comes to All-NBA teams and possible extensions. He’s currently in the first year of a five-year agreement signed in 2023. The first season of that deal started slow, but it’s still going and ended with an award that is great recognition for Haliburton and even better for he and the Pacers team-building reality.