Tyrese Haliburton earns All-NBA nod

The Third Team All-NBA spot puts Haliburton in elite company and will boost his contract extension by more than $40 million.

After a rough finish in Game 1 on Tuesday night, Tyrese Haliburton had a much better off day when the NBA announced that the Pacers All-Star guard was now an All-NBA guard, making the Third Team along with LeBron James, Steph Curry, Domantas Sabonis and Devin Booker.

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Haliburton finished 14th in the voting but was able to ride an elite first half of the season, which included extra nationally televised games in the IST run and made him a valued player among those following the league.

The new voting rules for All-NBA didn’t consider position, which seemed on the surface to be a positive for Haliburton. Although, looking over the teams, Haliburton was the fifth guard, if you consider Luka Doncic a forward. Regardless, he would’ve been in the mix.

The other advantage Haliburton had is the way contract extensions are tied to these postseason awards. While it creates a muddy situation, it is what it is and Haliburton surely benefited from the fact he was one of four All-NBA players who will see their contract extension numbers rise significantly. When in doubt, voters don’t want to screw a player out of more money, so it has to be a consideration. For Haliburton, like Anthony Edwards, he will now be eligible for 30% of the salary cap instead of 25%.

Bobby Marks laid out the projected difference for Haliburton.

Haliburton’s new numbers will impact the Pacers salary cap in a big way as they look to sign Pascal Siakam, as well. The Pacers have several key players on great contracts which helps when you hit on underrated young players in the draft. That will have to be the formula going forward for teams with the severe penalties for not even considering the salary cap, as the Warriors and Suns have done of late.

But having an All-NBA performer is worth the extra money because those of the type of players who push a team to deep playoff runs. Even if they are only playing in their first playoff games and learning tough lessons along the way.

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