The Pacers are on a three-game losing streak, and Haliburton has played 22 minutes in each of those three games, scoring just 42 points and distilling out 16 assists, which is almost a game this season when Haliburton is in good form. Especially in the away game against his old club Kings on February 3, he only got one assist but made five turnovers, and everyone could see the impact of the leg injury on him.
So why did Haliburton insist on playing even if he was "lame" and had to play until 22 minutes? This is still to mention the "65-game new rule" that was implemented at the beginning of the season. Since the previous article has talked about the specific content of the "65 new rules", let's talk about what this new rule means for Haliburton now.
Last summer, the Pacers offered their All-Star point guard a five-year contract with a maximum salary$05.9 billion. The specific salary is 35.5 million in the 24 25 season, 38.34 million in the 25 26 season, 41.18 million in the 26 27 season, 44.02 million in the 27 28 season, and 46.86 million in the 28 29 season. This is undoubtedly a "step to the sky" change for Haliburton, who is still under his rookie contract. However, that's not all, if Haliburton were to be the regular season MVP, All-Defensive Team, or All-NBA this season, he could activate the "Rose Clause" and upgrade his contract to five years600 million. Then his annual salary will exceed the average annual salary of 51 million!
Here, let's talk about the "Ross clause" first. In the NBA, there are many contract clauses, but not many are named after players, and the "Rose clause" is a recent special case full of praise. Because before, the maximum contract that a player could sign after his rookie contract was 25% of the team's salary cap. However, due to Derrick Rose's excellent performance, he won the regular season MVP in the third season of his career, which is 23 years after the last player who won the MVP on his rookie contract, and also through a collective bargaining agreement, a "super rookie" like Rose can get a maximum salary of 30% of the team's salary cap.
Of course, this is also a premise. That is, the clause stipulates that a player must meet one of three conditions on his rookie contract: a two-time All-Star starter, a regular-season MVP and a two-time All-Star selection. Since only Ross was eligible in the alliance when the terms were established, the terms were named "Roth Terms". But interestingly, Rose, who won the MVP in the 2010 11 season, became the first player in NBA history to inspire the "Rose Clause" because his rookie contract had not yet ended, and instead Kevin Durant a year later. Subsequently, Ross, Griffin, Paul George, Lillard, and Wivesbrook were activated. The last player to meet the "Ross Clause" was Luka Doncic.
Let's look at Haliburton. According to the new "65-game rule" introduced this season, players are only eligible to participate in the regular season honors if they have completed more than 80% of the regular season total, that is, more than 65 games, and each game must be more than 20 minutes. Prior to Haliburton's injury, the Pacers had played 35 games, and Haliburton had only missed two, but due to injury, he only played 13 minutes against the Celtics, which means he could only play in 33 games. He then missed 10 more games in January and has now played just 36 games. That means he has missed 14 games this season.
That's 82-65 = 17 and 17-14 = 3, which means that Haliburton can only miss a maximum of three more games in the remaining 36 games of the Pacers this season, while the rest of the games must play more than 20 minutes. And even if there are injury exceptions, there are only two games at most that can reduce the playing time to 15 minutes. Once below this standard, he will not be able to participate in the regular season awards this season, and in order to "meet the standard", Haliburton can only grit his teeth and persist even after enduring the pain of injury. A few days ago, Haliburton also complained about the new rules because of this matter, but obviously, this new regulation produced by last year's labor negotiations will not change because of the players' complaints.
In fact, it's not that Haliburton is not reserved enough, it's that the situation at this time is really not optimistic for him. Although he is not like Embiid, due to injury, it is no longer possible to complete the threshold of 65 games. His 32 games are indeed very likely to reach the minimum standard of 65 games. However, although before, Haliburton's performance of 12 assists per game almost locked up the season assist king. But the problem is that in the games after the injury, Haliburton averaged only 5 assists per game. And, judging by his physical condition after three straight defeats, it will be difficult to keep his assists at the season average. And we all know that recuperation and injury fighting are completely different concepts for physical recovery. Therefore, in the recent period, unless Haliburton risks being overloaded with an injury, his stats will inevitably drop significantly.
So, if he doesn't get the assist king in more than 65 games, Trae Young and Doncic behind him are now averaging 8James Harden, who has five assists, could all come back in the final moments. Without the blessing of the assist king, would it be easy to compete for six backcourt spots in the All-Star team? Because as it seems now, Doncic and Alexander are bound to be selected, and at the same time, it is possible. In the remaining four spots, Haliburton faces old popular players, Curry and Lillard, who just scored 60 points, Mitchell and Trae Young in the Mesozoic Generation, and Maxey and Brunson who are rampant this season, not to mention, as well as last season's championship guard Jamal Morrie and Devin Booker of the Suns!
Find out what happened to Haliburton! What can I do if I don't fight? After all, more than 40 million!