It’s no surprise the Pacers and their star guard have agreed to terms on a long-term deal. He told The Athletic’s Bob Kravitz in January that he loves playing in Indiana:

“I think the best part of being here is, I love the Midwest. I love Midwest people; my girl (Jade Jones) is from the Midwest (they met at Iowa State). ‘Midwest nice’ is a real thing, the genuineness of people, the way they act. I really value people waving as you walk by or smiling. That matters to me, that small-town feel, that Midwest feel.

“I said this when I came from Sacramento, who I am as a person, I love hard. I love hard. And I’m a person who really invests in where he is. This is somewhere I want to be long term. I’m just being real. I love it here; my family loves it here. Of course, it’s the NBA, it’s a business; I said the same thing about Sacramento and then I got traded. But I want to be where my feet are and that’s here in Indianapolis.”

Haliburton will play the 2023-24 season on a $5.8 million salary before the extension kicks in.

The 23-year-old has flourished with the Pacers since coming over in a trade from the Sacramento Kings, which selected him 12th overall in the 2020 draft, during the 2021-22 campaign.

In 26 games with the Pacers later that season, Haliburton averaged 17.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 9.6 assists while shooting 50.2 percent from the floor and 41.6 percent from deep.

The Iowa State product followed that up averaging 20.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists in 56 games while shooting 49.0 percent from the floor and 40.0 percent from beyond the arc in 2022-23.

The Pacers now have two key pieces locked up through at least the 2024-25 campaign in Haliburton and Myles Turner, who signed a two-year extension worth up to $61 million in January.

While Indiana finished the 2022-23 campaign with a 35-47 record, the future looks bright.

The Indiana Pacers accomplished their most important task this offseason by agreeing to a five-year rookie scale contract extension with All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton. The deal contains no options of any kind, meaning that Haliburton is under contract with the Pacers through the 2028-29 season.

That’s a long time in the NBA, and the blue and gold are now tasked with building around Haliburton going forward. He’s an excellent talent and still just 23-years old. It’s up to Indiana to construct a winner with his strengths in mind.

“We want [Haliburton] here for as long as he wants to be here,” Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard said in April.

Getting Haliburton to sign a five-year extension with no options is significant — that there is no opt out matters a great deal for the Pacers. In exchange, Haliburton earned two important details in his extension — a 15% trade kicker, meaning he will get a bonus of up to 15% (less, if the bonus will take his salary over his maximum) of the remaining value of his contract if traded, and the easiest possible route to earning 30% of the cap in salary. If Haliburton makes any All-NBA team next season, wins MVP, or is named Defensive Player of the Year, his new deal will start at 30% of the salary cap in 2024-25.