Haliburton's injury changes the face of the NBA's Eastern Conference AGAIN 🏀

Peter Klein

How Tyrese Haliburton’s Achilles tear reshapes the NBA:   - Pacers’ 2025 season: 8-12 month recovery timeline = tough decisions ahead?  - East chaos: Giannis stays? Knicks/Cavs in trouble? Magic now favorites?   - Trade market: Ja Morant could be last available star  👇 Subscribe for NBA Off-Season breakdowns! #NBATrades #Pacers #EasternConference    #NBAFinals #Thunder #Pacers #Haliburton #SGA #NBAPlayoffs #Haliburton  🎧 Listen on: Apple https://apple.co/49NGm2L | Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM?si=icY7NEBvT7yZadv_JFlT6Q  💬 Follow for live breakdowns: X.com/primetimepk | Twitch.tv/primetimepk  | Kick.com/primetimepk  🔗 Support the Show:   - Tip Jar: https://streamelements.com/couchpotatodiary/tip (fuels more content!)   - Partners: C of Dead http://cofdead403.ca/ | Swift Energy https://www.swiftenergy.gg/?ref=mriusnqm PROMO CODE: PKPrimetime for 25% Off!

Transcript

00:00the NBA finals are done we are into the offseason the draft is a couple days away so it's not a

00:15great time to have to pivot on strategy when the player that carried you to within one game of an

00:21NBA championship has the lower part of his leg explode and now will miss an entire season and

00:27that is what the Indiana Pacers are now having to deal with as we move into the offseason um there's

00:34a lot of different angles to attack this one at the first a wide open east gets even more wide open

00:42but uh so first for the Pacers given how they all stepped up and all the injuries in the east they

00:49were going to be one of the favorites in the eastern conference next season no question about it they

00:54were going to be one of the favorites in the east next year so this one is again devastating for them

00:59and for Halliburton as well as he had a chance to to really get a full season of a lot of the acclaim

01:06that he was able to pick up from this playoff run they still do have a solid group and a bit of a

01:11foundation to build on with Nembhard and Siakam but the big decision is Myles Turner he's a free agent

01:16right now I have always been a big fan of his as a player I wanted the Raptors to trade for him for a

01:21very long time um in part to pair him with Pascal Siakam so I'll I'll take a check mark on that one

01:27thanks but he he's a free agent I like him I think the range makes him very interesting as a five I

01:33think his length on defense again you combine it with Siakam and just the dog that is Nembhard and

01:41Halliburton when healthy that's that that's a tough team to deal with defensively and they kind of

01:45figured out how to use all that this year so on the one hand you can still probably get under

01:51the first apron because I don't think Turner coming off the playoffs that he had where it was a little

01:55inconsistent and deploying the position that he does I don't know if a big raise is coming for him

02:01and so there is a very real opportunity for the Pacers to still stay under that first apron and sign

02:07him and then you come back into an open east with Siakam, Turner, Nembhard as kind of your big three

02:14and a couple pieces that you like off the bench McConnell's locked in um Toppin's locked in

02:20Neesmith I believe as well Matherin um you have like a lot of your depth pieces are there so you have

02:25you have a foundation to build on on the other hand the Pacers I don't know if they haven't been a

02:34luxury tax team since the 05-06 season I don't know if they're going to want to pay into the luxury tax

02:39if Halliburton isn't going to play just to get that deal so okay you sign it we're in the luxury tax

02:46and now we also need to find a Halliburton replacement so I can see where the Pacers I don't think they should

02:53I think they are so close and keeping the band together would be great but I could see ownership being

02:58like okay so our top player is out and you still want us to pay into the luxury tax before we even

03:06replace the guy who's out huh so I can see ownership maybe having a bit of a wrinkle at that

03:13again I think they should but there is the question of who do you get to replace Halliburton and the

03:18obvious answer is nobody like there isn't really a replacement but from a literal they need another

03:22human being to play basketball um there are a couple of options Chris Paul's a free agent I don't

03:28think that really fits the um pardon the pun but pace that this team wants to be playing at here in

03:342025-2026 but it would be an interesting fit anyway maybe D'Angelo Russell you kind of hope that some of

03:42the good that he got from his time in Los Angeles can help translate and the the culture that you have

03:46built and the systems that you have can kind of maximize him as a player a little bit but this is

03:51the area we're talking about when you're looking at point guards it's like it's those two guys in

03:55Brogdon unless you are getting in on some kind of a trade where we'll talk about the Rockets here in

04:01a little bit but if they want to flip a um if they want to flip Fred Van Vliet out and make a move to

04:09bring in like a Giannis or something big like that um and you want to be a part of it in a three-team

04:13trade well okay but that's still 44 million dollars but maybe you can make it work like there's just

04:18there isn't a whole lot of options out there for this Pacers club to try to directly replace

04:24Tyrese Halliburton I do think that there is still a world where they bring back Turner and it's

04:30Turner Nembhard Siakam and the bench that they have and this is still a very competitive team

04:36in the east but getting to this level again is going to be very very difficult for this group

04:43moving forward uh just a reminder that you can uh support Couch Potato Diary and my cats in

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05:21so what does the Halliburton injury mean now for the rest of the NBA I think there is definitely a

05:28like one percent chance now that Giannis gets traded um I think if you're the Bucs even with no Lillard

05:35I'm looking at it like okay well I got I got the best guy left standing now so we're just gonna run

05:42it back unless someone is going to give us just an absurd haul to bring Giannis to their team we're

05:49just gonna keep them and see what happens and if it's still like if it sucks and we can move them in

05:53January but for now like you look at it Tatum Halliburton are out the Knicks look like they are a mess

06:00with the the coaching search going on right now the Cavs were absolutely embarrassed in the playoffs

06:05this last go around the 76ers are still probably going to be a dumpster fire

06:08like god bless my Raptors but they're not going to be on any level to hang with a Giannis this

06:15upcoming season so there's just there isn't really that obvious like okay that's a threat um like

06:20there are some good teams we'll talk about them in a second but I I think I think the Bucs at least

06:25owe it to themselves now to see what they can do in this season in the east with all these injuries

06:30and all this turmoil that is going on I think it brings the Pistons closer to the the contender

06:36conversation which is you know a little ironic that a problem with the Pacers helps the Pistons

06:42get back into contention uh that seems to be something that happened at some point before

06:47um so that would be an interesting little wrinkle to that but I mean look we just saw a young

06:53basketball team take one massive step and then another one the next year and then they won a

06:58championship the Pistons could follow that same thing I'm not saying it is likely but at least in

07:03the east you got Cunningham you got this pretty solid basketball team around them that pushed the

07:09Knicks to within a missed uh foul call in the corner of sending that series to a seventh game so

07:15I think you have to at least take a look at the the Pistons now as a real contender and I think the

07:21magic we broke down their trade with uh Desmond Bain um was not able to get the the video up in its

07:28own little segment because we're having some stream issues but if you want to go back and watch the live

07:32it's from the game seven uh recap that we did but I mean that you have to be loving life coming off of

07:37that trade right now you have a defense that can rival what we saw in the NBA finals and now you have

07:43one of the three best three-point shooters and again minimal resistance in your conference so they

07:49have to be absolutely loving it right now we'll talk a little bit more here in a second about other

07:56trade scenarios and everything like that but I do wonder if this makes Ja Morant and uh Triple J

08:02more available now from the Grizzlies with KD traded with Giannis maybe not being available now

08:09if a team is really hot and bothered to go out and bring a young superstar in the closest you can find

08:16is Ja Morant and a close second is Jaron Jackson Jr. so now if I'm Memphis even if I before was thinking

08:24ah you know what I kind of like we got a lot of pieces back in that Bain trade um let's just see

08:30if we can run this thing back and see what we have in a couple of guys who helped us get to 50 wins

08:35at various different points in our franchise's history oh wait uh why is every team in the east

08:42calling us why has Pat Riley phoned me 19 times what is what is Masai Ujiri want from from me oh we're

08:48getting that for these guys okay change of direction like I just I think there are enough desperate teams

08:54looking for that game breaker and all of a sudden Ja Morant is the last chair left and the music's

09:00about to stop so that there could be I think a little bit more value for Memphis to try to make

09:06a move now that the east has opened up the west looks scary as hell and there are very few star

09:12players who are available at least it seems right now in the NBA if you are watching or uh listening

09:18to this right now and are a wrestling fan and maybe not all that into some of the other traditional

09:23stuff or you just want more wrestling talk from me you're in luck uh living room lariat is coming

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09:33the week from couch potato diary a lot of wrestling stuff still living here on couch potato um for

09:38podcast listeners and YouTube as well but um gonna have all of it in one spot plus a couple other uh

09:44exclusive breakdowns not available on the flagship podcast uh that will be launching this Friday morning

09:50so be sure to check that one out again keep it locked on my social medias for everything involving

09:55that

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