Are Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton's Early Season Struggles Due to Team USA Hangover?

Matt Levine | 9 Hours Ago

Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

The Indiana Pacers have started off the new NBA season with a record of 2-4. It hasn't been pretty for Indiana, especially after they reached the Eastern Conference Finals a year ago.

Despite the Pacers being a very similar team, they haven't been able to rekindle the magic from the playoffs last year. Part of this has been due to the early season struggles of star point guard Tyrese Haliburton.

Haliburton has gotten off to a poor start and it has hurt the Pacers on the floor. While Indiana has other strong players on their roster, Haliburton is the engine that drives the entire team.

Through six games, Haluburton is averaging just 14.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. Compared to his stats last season, Haliburton has seen a steep decline in numbers.

Last year, he averaged 20.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 10.9 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. One of the more glaring problems for Haliburton this year has been his 3-point shooting.

Last season, Haliburton shot 35.4 percent from beyond the 3-point line. This year, albeit a very small sample size, he has shot only 24.0 percent from deep.

It's been a struggle to start the year and many have wondered what has happened to him. But one area that could be blamed is Haliburton having a hangover from participating with Team USA over the summer.

Haliburton had a shorter offseason than he has been used to and it may have affected his game. He will likely break out of this slump but it could take him some time to fully recover.

One rival NBA executive called out Haliburton for his play this season. They mentioned that he wasn't playing with the same "pop" that he had been last season, potentially pointing to his entire routine being thrown off.

"Last year, he'd pull up from just inside half court and bury shots. He just isn't playing with that same pop this year," the executive said, via Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.

No matter what the issue is for the Pacers star, Indiana needs him to be his normal self if they want any hope of contending this season. Haliburton is the leader of this Pacers team so he will need to figure out his play before the season gets away from the Pacers entirely.

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