by Brett Siegel
Tyrese Haliburton has been having a sensational season for the Indiana Pacers. In the midst of his fourth season in the league, Haliburton has transcended into a superstar point guard in the NBA and has been gaining attention in this year’s MVP race after taking the Pacers to the championship game of the first in-season tournament. The Pacers are the league’s best offensive team for a reason and Haliburton has his fingerprints all over their success.
On Thursday night, the Pacers will be taking on the Chicago Bulls, a chance for Indiana to get back on track after losing six of their last eight games. However, Haliburton’s status for this game is unclear after he was added to the team’s injury report this afternoon.
After missing a game last week due to knee soreness, Haliburton is now questionable to play against the Bulls on Thursday as result of a sore back. Bruce Brown has already been ruled out for this matchup in Chicago, which would make the star guard’s absence even more significant.
Haliburton has played in a total of 26 games this season for the Pacers, averaging 24.8 points, 12.1 assists, and 4.0 rebounds per game while shooting 42.1 percent from 3-point range. He currently leads the league in assists and the Pacers star leads all players in 3-point shooting percentage, minimum 200 shot attempts.
If Indiana is to play on Thursday without Haliburton, second-year guard Andrew Nembhard and veteran point guard T.J. McConnell would figure to serve a heavy role in the backcourt. Bennedict Mathurin would also see his role and workload increase on the offensive side of the floor.
Despite being 14-18 on the season, the Bulls have shown a lot of fight in recent weeks. In fact, Chicago has won five of their last seven games and have started to rise up the Eastern Conference standings. A win over the Pacers would give Indiana a .500 record for the first time since their sixth game of the season.
As a result of being a late addition to the injury report, Tyrese Haliburton’s status is definitely up in the air at this point. The Pacers will provide further details on his availability prior to tip-off.
Originally posted on clutchpoints.com