Tyrese Haliburton is, in his heart, a showman, and though he can get worn out by social media just like anyone else, he had to be smiling with the response he got to his X post on Wednesday promoting his upcoming podcast with LeBron James.
The Pacers All-Star point guard will be subbing in for Hall-of-Famer Steve Nash on James’ “Mind The Game” podcast on Thursday at 1:15 p.m. when they record a live episode at Fanatics Fest on Thursday at the Javits Center in New York City. This episode comes more than two weeks into LeBron Watch after the four-time MVP, four-time NBA Finals MVP, 22-time All-Star and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer gave word to the Lakers that he will be leaving in free agency and playing his 24th NBA season elsewhere.
Haliburton posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account “Tomorrow it’s time” and tagged James’ account @KingJames. Immediately his replies were filled with suggestions that James would be announcing that he would be signing for the Pacers including photoshopped pictures of James in a Pacers uniform.
It should be noted, of course, that no reporting whatsoever has suggested that James could be on his way to Indiana. James’ agent, Rich Paul, appeared on the podcast of longtime sportscaster Max Kellerman and wrote out the names of several teams on a white board and the Pacers were not included. The consensus among NBA insiders appears to be that the most likely scenarios would be a return to Cleveland for one more go-around with James’ hometown team, a return to Miami where he could partner with Giannis Antetokounmpo, a move from Southern California to Northern California where he could team up with fellow league elders Stephen Curry and Draymond Green or a move to Philadelphia where add to the momentum the 76ers gained by adding Jaylen Brown to a core that already includes guards Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe and former MVP Joel Embiid.
Still, the idea that James would share a platform with Haliburton in the middle of his free agency gave Pacers fans a glimmer of hope that maybe — just maybe — the man who denied them so many chances at glory in the 2010s might help them re-arm themselves in 2026-27 for another NBA Finals push after an injury driven gap year in 2025-26. The two were part of the 2024 Olympic gold medal team (though Haliburton was a much, much smaller part). Haliburton is a life-long LeBron fan and James has shown himself to be an admirer of Haliburton by bringing the 26-year-old on his podcast and telling him just how much respect the point guard earned around the league by playing in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals with a calf strain even though it resulted in him tearing his right Achilles tendon and missing all of last season.
It is highly, highly, highly unlikely that James will announce Thursday that he’s coming to Indianapolis. In fact, James has a history of hinting at seismic news that never comes to pass. He’s suggested for several years that he was considering retirement only to return year after year. Last year he hinted at a “Second Decision” and filmed a video referencing his move from the Cavaliers to the Heat in 2010, but that turned out to be an advertisement for Hennessy cognac. It’s entirely possible that James could film a whole podcast with Haliburton about basketball and not mention free agency at all.
Still, perhaps only as a thought exercise, it’s worth considering the possibility. Here are three things to know about James and the Pacers heading into Thursday’s podcast.
The Pacers can’t sign James right now but they could make it work
If James announced on Mind The Game on Thursday that he’s joining the Pacers and president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard (or general manager Chad Buchanan or executive vice president Ted Wu) showed up in New York with a free agent contract for him to sign, the NBA would have to reject it.
According to the sports business website Spotrac, the Pacers have about $206.8 million in active cap allocations for the 2026-27 season which puts them about $2.2 million below the first luxury tax apron threshold of $209 million. They signed forward Kelly Oubre Jr. earlier this month to a two-year $17-million deal using the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which allows teams that are over the salary cap to spend up to $15.1 million in first-year salary to bring in free agents from other teams. However, using that portion of the mid-level exception make teams “hard-capped” at the first apron, meaning they cannot raise their salary level above that threshold all season and any move that does so would be rejected by the league.
James has indicated that he would be willing to take the veteran minimum salary for the right situation after spending most of his career at max salary levels, making $52.6 million last season. Though he would get paid just under $3.9 million on a one-year, veteran minimum deal, that would only cost $2.4 million against the salary cap. Still, that’s about $200,000 more than the Pacers can spend according to the rules of the collective bargaining agreement.
The Pacers can still shed enough salary to make room for James, but they’ll need another team’s help. On Wednesday, they passed up on their last opportunity to do it unilaterally. Guard Quenton Jackson was only guaranteed $275,000 of his $2.58 million salary up until Wednesday, so if the Pacers would have waived him they could have saved about $2.3 million. But they decided to keep him and waiving him now would just leave them with a dead cap hit.
So that means the only way for the Pacers to clear cap space is to engage in a trade. They’d only have to send out about $200,000 more in salary than they take in so they could still take in a comparable player to anyone they send out and they wouldn’t have to find a team with cap space to make the deal. Still, somebody would have to want whatever player or players the Pacers are sending out and any trade partner would certainly extract a premium in terms of draft capital if they knew the Pacers had to make a deal to fit James in under the apron.
They could pay James above the minimum by using what’s left of their mid-level exception if they can get far enough under the apron. Oubre is expect to make a little over $8 million, so they still have about $7 million left in the exception, but they can only use that if they stay under the apron. The only way to do that and not move any of their core seven players would be to trade one of forward Jarace Walker or Ben Sheppard to a team with cap space or a trade exception so they don’t have to take a player back. Still, even if they did, $7 million is the most they can put on the table.
Tyrese Haliburton would do the podcast even if it doesn’t bring LeBron to Indiana
It should be noted here that the only piece of evidence linking the Pacers to LeBron is Haliburton appearing on the podcast, and there’s little reason to believe that Haliburton would reject that opportunity if James signs somewhere other than Indiana.
Haliburton has, on many occasions, made clear that he was first and foremost a LeBron fan growing up before he was even a Bucks fan as an Oshkosh, Wis., native. James entered the league when Haliburton was just 3 years old and Haliburton is closer in age to James’ son Bronny than he is to LeBron. Haliburton rooted for every team James was on before he entered the league and noted that he harbored childhood resentment toward Rick Carlisle and his Mavericks who beat James’ Heat team in the 2011 NBA Finals.
Haliburton is a student of the game and of its history and even if he appears on the podcast only to tee James up to pick another free agent destination, he likely wouldn’t balk at the opportunity to say he was part of such a historic moment. And if all he does is just talk X’s and O’s with one of the game’s great minds, he’d be happy to do that too. James’ selection of Haliburton as a podcast partner might not have anything to do with his decision.
LeBron would make the Pacers — or any other contender — better
There isn’t a LeBron-sized hole on the Pacers’ roster.
The team’s brass is thrilled with their starting five. Haliburton gives them one of the best playmaking point guards and arguably the best passing point guard of his generation. Pascal Siakam gives them an All-NBA caliber playmaking power forward who can do all sorts of things to take the burden off Haliburton as he returns from his injury. Guard Andrew Nembhard and small forward Aaron Nesmith give them selfless complimentary pieces who take on the toughest perimeter defensive assignments and give the Pacers connective tissue on the offensive end. Newly acquired center Ivica Zubac gives Haliburton a powerful pick-and-roll partner and gives the Pacers a defensive force in the lane and the best rebounder they’ve had in years. Backup point guard T.J. McConnell and forwards Oubre, Obi Toppin and Jarace Walker could give them one of the league’s second unit. They should be a contender with or without LeBron.
But even at 41 — 42 in December — James can make the Pacers better.
These days, James takes more days off. He rarely plays the second nights of back-to-backs and he finished with just 60 games last year, failing to reach the threshold for inclusion on the All-NBA team. But even so, he remains an athletic marvel. It’s only clear that he’s lost a step because his standard was as high as anyone in the league’s has ever been. He’s still a chiseled 6-9, 250 pounds. He’s still explosive enough to blitz through the lane like a freight train and throw down rim-rocking dunks. His chase-down blocks are fewer and further between but he still recorded 35 blocks last season. He averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds per game. The only three players in the league who averaged more of all three were All-NBA picks Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic and Jalen Johnson.
And James showed that when the playoffs hit and the back-to-backs disappear he can still carry a team in a series. With Doncic out and Austin Reaves available for just two games in their first round series against the Rockets, James led the Lakers with 23.2 points, 8.3 assists and 7.2 rebounds per game in a 4-2 series win. The Lakers were swept by the Thunder in the second round but he was still their best player.
James showed throughout the season that he could take a step back and help make life easier for Doncic. He wouldn’t have a problem doing the same for Haliburton and Siakam. Carlisle has referred to James’ mind as “a basketball supercomputer” and if they got together they could surely devise a plan that would maximize his impact without sacrificing the development of the rest of the team. And there would be enough talent around him for the Pacers to be considered one of the favorites in the East and give him one more chance at a ring.
Again, there’s almost no chance it happens, and at the moment the Pacers have not prepared to make it happen from a roster and salary standpoint. But for Pacers fans it’s still a fun dream to have.
Dustin Dopirak covers the Pacers all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Pacers Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Tyrese Haliburton’s LeBron podcast tease sends Pacers fans into frenzy
Reporting by Dustin Dopirak, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Dustin Dopirak, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
