NBA Season Preview 2022-23: 5 players most likely to be first-time All-Stars
By Ian Levy
3. Tyrese Haliburton, Guard, Indiana Pacers
Haliburton will have extremely tough sledding, playing in the Eastern Conference that now features Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, LaMelo Ball, Fred VanVleet, Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Tyler Herro, Bradley Beal, Jrue Holiday and Zach LaVine all competing for guard spots. However, Haliburton seems lined up for a real breakout season, regardless of whether he can make the team or not.
After being traded to the Pacers at the deadline, Haliburton averaged 17.5 points, 9.6 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game on 50.2/41.6/84.9 shooting splits. If he can maintain or even improve on those numbers slightly, he’d be a threat to lead the league in assists and/or hit a 50/40/90 season all while playing much better defense than most of the guards he’ll be competing against for an All-Star slot. If Indiana can get off to a surprisingly hot start, with Myles Turner healthy and rookie Bennedict Mathurin hitting from the outside, it could really help his case.