Pacers fans get good news on All-Star PG

Point guard Tyrese Haliburton has arguably been the biggest surprise of the 2023-24 NBA season, building off his first All-Star campaign last year and taking things to another level over the first two-plus months. Ranking first in the league in assists per game (12.5), fifth in double-doubles (26), tied for fifth in three-pointers made per contest (3.4) and 23rd in scoring (23.6 points per game), Haliburton should be viewed as the leading contender for the Most Improved Player of the Year award.

The 23-year-old finished sixth in the race for the George Mikan Trophy last season and got off to a brilliant start in November.

Haliburton finished the first full month of the 2023-24 campaign by joining LeBron James and Michael Jordan as the only players in NBA history to average at least 25 points and 10 assists in a month while also shooting at least 50% from the field and 40% from three-point land. M.J. accomplished the feat in March 1989 (11 years before Haliburton was born) and King James did it twice (February 2017, February 2018).

The 2020 first-round pick wrapped up November by passing those numbers with plenty of room to spare, recording 28.6 points and 11.7 dimes per contest while posting a 53.0% field goal percentage and 47.0% three-point field goal percentage. Haliburton closed out the opening month with a career-high 44 points against the Miami Heat on 15-for-28 shooting (6-for-16 on three-pointers) with 10 assists and continued his masterful play through December.

He'd reached double figures in scoring in 31 of his first 32 games this season prior to the early exit against the Boston Celtics on Monday and has registered 10 or more assists 27 times. Haliburton is averaging career highs in points and assists through his first 33 contests in 2023-24 and is shooting a career-best 49.7% from the field as well.