1-on-1 with John Haliburton: On young Ty, pushing him to be great and seeing him sign the largest deal in Pacers history
John is a basketball coach, official and most importantly, proud dad. And he couldn't stop smiling on July 6 when Tyrese signing a five-year contract extension.
Continuing on with Tyrese Haliburton Week here on Fieldhouse Files, let’s go back to July 6 when Haliburton flew back to Indianapolis for the biggest day of his life.
It was also one of the biggest days in Indiana Pacers franchise history.
The point guard signed a five-year maximum rookie extension that has him under contract through the 2028-29 season. So… for the foreseeable future.
More than that, it was for over $200 million guaranteed and with the possibility to stretch to $260 million — the max they could offer him — if he is voted to an All-NBA team next season.
And so Haliburton, surrounded by his family and agents, signed the largest contract in Pacers franchise history on July 6. Then he caught a charter flight to Las Vegas to get to work with coaches and to support his newest teammates.
“When I came here, it was just a fresh beginning for me,” he said. “And I credit a lot of the reason that I’ve been able to succeed to my family in making that transition seamless for me, top to bottom, along with my agents. Just making that very easy, taking care of everything, getting everything here and making it be as stress-free as possible for me to get here and just play basketball. That’s all I want to do.”
Wherever he’s played — Sacramento or Indiana — his mom, Brenda, has moved to that city as well. When he’s out of town, she takes care of his dog, Ames. And at every home game, she’s right there courtside on the baseline to support one of her sons.
His father, John, is as proud as any dad can be. He’s almost always wearing Tyrese’s jersey. He loved Tyrese playing basketball, but football too.
“I wanted him to be a football player, that’s how good he was,” John told Fieldhouse Files. “Then his mom took over. Basketball has always been his focus. He did football for fun, but he was always focused on basketball.
“He was very good. I mean you threw the ball up — it could be in the sand, it could be in the trees, he went and got it. I was saying to myself, I got another Randy Moss. That’s what I was looking for.”
As he sat in row 1 with the family, on the court at Gainbridge Fieldhouse to celebrate the contract extension, I couldn’t help but wonder what was racing through his mind.