Tyrese Haliburton to Indiana Pacers teammates: 'It's going to be hard to do it again'

Haliburton is a leader at a young age

Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton works on his free throws at the Indiana Pacers practice facility. (Mandatory Photo Credit: Pacers On SI) / Tony East - Pacers On SI

Tyrese Haliburton took his teammates to the WWE NXT event down in Orlando this week for some bonding, but that isn't the only leadership the Indiana Pacers star guard has displayed this week.

The 24-year old ball handler is with his squad in Florida for minicamp — forward Pascal Siakam hosted the team at his house for a players-only trip before the official start of the upcoming season. The blue and gold are getting a head start on their 2024-25 campaign, an important one after their run to the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals.

Recently, Siakam shared a video to his X account that showed Haliburton giving his teammates a passionate speech about the challenges coming their way in the coming campaign. Siakam and center Myles Turner have both also chimed in with advice for the team during the minicamp so far.

"This is our last time it's just going to be us. Next week, we've got coaches involved and sh*t. So everybody get your minds right... just keep doing what we do, stay together at all times," Haliburton said to his teammates. None of the Pacers coaches or assistant coaches by title are present at the minicamp — they are going through their own set of meetings.

That setting is a good one for player bonding, as Haliburton said. They want to be a unit all season — chemistry was a superpower for the blue and gold last season. Many different types of lineups had success for the Pacers thanks to strong on-court connections.

"As a group, we just need to establish that right now," Haliburton continued. "I cannot tell you guys how many times you're going to hear over the next two, three weeks, 'sh*t ain't going to be easy. It ain't going to be easy to do it again. It's going to be hard to do it again'." Haliburton noted that Pacers head coach Rick Carlsile has been calling him throughout the summer and sharing that exact message.

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— pascal siakam (@pskills43) September 18, 2024

It's an important note, and one that Siakam specifically knows well. The former All-NBA forward won a championship in 2019, then didn't get back to the conference finals for five years. That gap was frustrating for the veteran forward, and he won't take success for granted any more. Indiana hopes they don't have an equal amount of time between deep postseason runs.

"Teams are going to come at us... we invite that. That's who we are," Haliburton said. "That's what we do so well. Everybody just stick together, keep doing what we do."

The star guard appreciated that Siakam let the team come to his house to get in work before the season started. Now, the group is just a few days away from the start of their 2024-25 campaign. They'll have high expectations for the first time in a few years, and they know it. How they respond will be important.

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