Former Pacer, Tar Heel Tyler Hansbrough Opens up About His Long Career

Former North Carolina legend and long-time pro Tyler Hansbrough spoke one-on-one with Ben Stinar of AllPacers.com on Tuesday, and covered several topics about his long basketball career.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Tyler Hansbrough, one of the greatest college players ever at North Carolina and a former first-round pick of the Indiana Pacers in 2009, launched a podcast recently with Brandon Staten called "SleepHawk."

"We cover a lot of different topics," Hansbrough told AllPacers.com on Tuesday in a phone interview. "We talk about everything from the Bachelor TV show to UNC basketball, to current topics, or whatever our fans want us to talk about."

Hansbrough had one of the best college careers of all time in North Carolina Tar Heel basketball history. During his senior season, he led them to the national championship just one season after winning the national Player of The Year award during his junior season. Overall, he had career averages of 20.2 points and 8.6 rebounds per game during his four-year career in Chapel Hill.

"For me, I met my best friends, enjoyed college, I had a great, great time," Hansbrough said, looking back. "I played for the best coach I could possibly have in Coach [Roy] Williams. He taught me a lot about life."

Williams retired earlier this month after his legendary coaching career with Kansas and North Carolina. Hansbrough knew it had to happen eventually.

"We always knew it was on the horizon," he said. "I was a little surprised because I thought coach would go a few more years, but I am happy for coach. I think it was the right move for him, and I fully support him, but I was a little surprised."

After his legendary college career, Hansbrough was the 13th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, taken by Larry Bird and the Indiana Pacers. After being so ingrained in the Carolina blue, he knew that the NBA would be a different experience.

"I couldn't have been more excited to get drafted by Indiana," he said.

Hansbrough played for the Pacers from 2009 through 2013, and in 246 games with  the team, averaged 8.9 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.

"They were very good teams, I was very lucky to play for the Pacers," he said. "Obviously, playing for Frank Vogel, I thought he helped me a lot as a player and gave me an opportunity."

During his time in Indiana, he got to play with his brother Ben Hansbrough, and he also got a chance to play in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals against LeBron James and the Miami Heat.

The Pacers fell just one game short of the NBA Finals in 2013.

"That was big," he said. "Looking back, being that close is a little frustrating, but I thought our teams were very good, and I thought we may not have gotten the respect we deserved."

After a few stops with the Charlotte Hornets and Toronto Raptors, Hansbrough has played professionally the last few seasons in China. He had been to the country a few times for preseason games when he was with the Hornets and Pacers.

He's been a huge focal point in their offense and believes his game has grown, and he's gotten his confidence back. Last season, he averaged 32.3 points and 13.4 rebounds per game in 2019-20.

After having COVID-19 (with no severe symptoms) at one point, it was hard for him to get back in their league this season in China.

"I love China," he said. "The cities are great. I really like the lifestyle, too."

Even at 35 years old and not playing in the NBA since 2015, Hansbrough believes he could still play at the NBA level and is not retiring from basketball even if it's not in the NBA this season or next. He says he's in shape and feels ready to play this season, wherever that may be.

"I know I can," he said of playing in the NBA. "As crazy it seems, I've always worked on my game, I feel like I'm a much better player, I have more experience and I'm a better person, so yeah, definitely I think I could still be effective at any level."