The immediate news that came from Pacers’ All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton’s appearance on LeBron James’ live recording of his Mind The Game podcast at Fanatics Fest in New York on Thursday was about what wasn’t said.
Haliburton tried to get the NBA’s all-time leading scorer to tell the world where he would be going in free agency, as James announced at the end of June that he would not be returning to the Lakers. However, James laughed off Haliburton’s attempts at both the beginning and the end of the show to try to goad him into an answer. In the midst of it, Haliburton said that he texted James before he announced he was leading the Lakers to tell him, “Hey, if you want to come to Indiana, we can make something crack.” Haliburton said then that James texted him back two crying-laughing face emojis, then said Monday on the Pat McAfee Show that he looked back at the text and realized James had actually sent him six emojis.
“I decided from then on I’m done pursuing him in free agency,” Haliburton said. “I don’t know if it’s going to happen in Indiana.”
Those exchanges were reported on Thursday by several reporters who covered the event live including ESPN’s Dave McMenamin who were there just in case James’ used the event to make a major announcement. However, the full podcast wasn’t available until it was published on Tuesday morning. The free agency discussion was just part of a 45-minute episode which addressed several other basketball topics in depth, as is the format of the podcast.
Here’s a look at what James and Haliburton actually did talk about.
>>Emojis aside, James was very complimentary of both Haliburton and the Pacers, though he didn’t address the possibility of ever playing for them. He used a segment of the episode sponsored by Claude and the artificial intelligence company Anthropic to note the improbability of the Pacers’ 2025 NBA Finals run and Haliburton’s contribution to it.
James noted that Haliburton’s four game-winning shots during that run were the most in the 2025 playoffs and that those four game-winners alone rank him fourth among all players since the 1996-97 season when the NBA started tracking play-by-play data. He also noted that Haliburton has hit a game-winning shot in 13% of his career playoff games. Since 1996-97, James said, Khris Middleton has the next highest rate at 5%.
“That’s (expletive) dope, bro,” James said to Haliburton. “That’s not bad.”
James said Claude also found that the Pacers odds of completing all four of their major comebacks in the playoffs — their Game 5 win over the Bucks in the first round, Game 2 win over the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, Game 1 win over the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals and Game 1 win over the Thunder in the NBA Finals — was 1 in 10 million.
“These numbers are crazy,” James said before asking Haliburton a question. “… Was there something about y’all once you got down that made y’all lock in even more?”
“In the playoffs, it’s the epitome of one play at a time,” Haliburton said. “As soon as you start to focus on everything that is to come, what the future could look like, I feel like that’s when (expletive) gets bad. You know what I’m saying. For us, it was just like, ‘How do we control one play at a time, one game at a time?’ As soon as you start thinking about, ‘Airght, if we go split on the road and we come back and win two at home…’ I feel like that’s when (expletive) never goes as planned. That’s why you have to take it one play at a time. And the most important thing has to be having lady luck on your side.”
>>Haliburton and James spoke at length about the Knicks’ championship run. Haliburton noted that the biggest difference between the Knicks teams the Pacers defeated in the 2024 Eastern Conference semifinals and the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals and the team that won the 2026 title was their willingness to use their depth.
In the 2024-25 regular season, the Knicks’ five starters all ranked in the NBA’s top 40 in total minutes played. Wings Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart ranked first and second in the league and forward O.G. Anunoby was ninth. The Knicks made a coaching change, moving on from Tom Thibodeau, and new coach Mike Brown was much more willing to use his bench. The Pacers wore the Knicks out with their depth in both playoff series and Haliburton saw a team that had worked on that weakness. Bridges was still in the top 10 in total minutes this season, but he was the only member of the Knicks who was.
“I think Mike Brown was a big addition for them,” Haliburton said. “I think the ball moved a lot more for them. I think they relied on their second unit even more, which I think is important. Obviously, their starting five is amazing. JB (Jalen Brunson) did his thing. KAT (Karl-Anthony Towns), O.G., Mikal, all those guys. But then I think you can’t get rid of the contributions of Jose Alvarado, Mitchell Robinson. Guys like that who are coming in and making big plays, helping win playoff games when things matter. I think that’s ultimately what mattered the most. They just leaned on their depth.
Haliburton said specifically that was a weakness the Pacers attacked in previous seasons.
“The last couple of years I felt like for 48 minutes their starting five would come to play,” Haliburton said. “But as the game got in, we got into their legs. As the series went on, I felt good. Whereas this year, it felt like they were leaning on everybody and guys felt fresh. They looked really good. You gotta give props where props were due.”
>>James and Haliburton both noted that the East could be the more interesting conference this season thanks to the offseason movement. Many of the most interesting moves involved trades between Eastern Conference teams with Giannis Antetokounmpo going from the Bucks to Miami and the 76ers and Celtics swapping Paul George and Jaylen Brown. However, Kawhi Leonard could turn the Raptors into a conference contender if the deal between the Clippers and Toronto goes through — though the Clippers and Leonard are being investigated for a deal that may have circumvented the collective bargaining agreement. Also, James could tip the scales himself if he joins an Eastern Conference team.
“From a conference perspective, you don’t know what could happen in our conference,” Haliburton said. “You really feel like there are 6-8 teams that have a real chance to come out of the East. The West has been so dominated by OKC and San Antonio — well, San Antonio is just coming in — for the last couple of years. That’s what I’m more curious about is the parity. Right now we’re, what eight different champions in the last eight years? I think that’s a good thing for our game.”
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: What Tyrese Haliburton and LeBron James actually talked about on Mind The Game
Reporting by Dustin Dopirak, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Dustin Dopirak, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
