Tyrese Haliburton is walking into a different kind of partnership this season.
After years of building Indiana’s offense around Myles Turner’s pick-and-pop game, the Pacers now have Ivica Zubac at center, and that means Haliburton has a new big man to figure out. The core idea stays familiar - get the ball moving, force defenses to choose, and punish them for it - but the details change fast when the screener is a roller instead of a pop threat.
That shift matters because Turner was more than just a rim protector or a center who could run the floor. He was a steady three-point option in those actions, and that spacing became a major part of what Haliburton did best. With Zubac, Indiana doesn’t have the same kind of constant stretch look at the five spot, unless Jay Huff is on the floor, and even then the volume is low.
So Haliburton is going to have to adjust. Not in a bad way, just in a different one.
Zubac brings a different kind of value. He’s an elite big man on both ends, and if the Pacers use him the right way, he can be a dangerous roller and a real lob target for Haliburton.
That kind of chemistry won’t be automatic, though. Haliburton hasn’t played with Zubac in an NBA game yet, so the two will have to build that connection on the fly.
The good news for Indiana is that this isn’t uncharted territory for Zubac. During his time with the LA Clippers, he thrived in pick-and-roll actions with James Harden as the lead ball-handler, and some of the best seasons of his career came alongside Harden.
For Haliburton, the job now is simple to describe and harder to execute: learn a new big, learn a new rhythm, and make the most of a different kind of center. The Pacers are heading into a season that has to be a bounce-back year, with Haliburton healthy again and much of the roster intact from the group that reached the 2025 NBA Finals just over one year ago.
The offense won’t look exactly the same. The Turner-Zubac comparison makes sure of that. The next version is about Haliburton and Zubac, and the pick-and-roll is set to be the centerpiece.
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