Tyrese Haliburton tried to pry some free agency secrets out of LeBron James during a live recording of the “Mind The Game” podcast, but it blew up in his face with six crying-laughing face emojis. LeBron had already announced at the end of June that he wouldn’t be returning to the Lakers, leaving everyone guessing. Haliburton, the Pacers’ All-Star point guard, made his shot, telling LeBron via text, “Hey, if you want to come to Indiana, we can make something crack.”
The Emoji Rejection That Ended a Free Agency Dream
That text, initially recalled by Haliburton as earning just two crying-laughing emojis, was actually met with six of them, he later clarified on the Pat McAfee Show. That’s a lot of digital chuckles. After that clear message, Haliburton confirmed his pursuit of the NBA’s all-time leading scorer is officially over. “I decided from then on I’m done pursuing him in free agency,” Haliburton said. “I don’t know if it’s going to happen in Indiana.” Reporters at Fanatics Fest in New York on Thursday caught the immediate free agency back-and-forth, but the full 45-minute podcast episode, dropped Tuesday morning, revealed so much more than just a free agency tease.
LeBron Praises Pacers’ “Crazy” 2025 Finals Run
Beyond the free agency jokes, LeBron was super complimentary of both Haliburton and the entire Pacers squad, even if he didn’t hint at playing for them. He dug deep into their improbable 2025 NBA Finals run, using a segment sponsored by Claude and Anthropic to highlight Haliburton’s insane performance. The dude hit four game-winning shots during those 2025 playoffs, the most of any player that year. That alone puts him fourth among all players for game-winners since the NBA started tracking play-by-play data back in the 1996-97 season. Get this: Haliburton has hit a game-winning shot in a wild 13% of his career playoff games. LeBron pointed out that Khris Middleton is next highest since ’96-97, way down at 5%. “That’s (expletive) dope, bro,” LeBron told Haliburton, “That’s not bad.”
The 1 in 10 Million Odds That Blew LeBron’s Mind
The numbers didn’t stop there. Claude’s AI apparently found that the Pacers’ odds of pulling off all four of their major playoff comebacks, Game 5 against the Bucks in the first round, Game 2 over the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, Game 1 against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, and Game 1 over the Thunder in the NBA Finals, were a mind-bending 1 in 10 million. “These numbers are crazy,” LeBron exclaimed. He asked Haliburton what made them lock in when they were down. Haliburton’s answer? Pure playoff wisdom. “In the playoffs, it’s the epitome of one play at a time,” he explained. “As soon as you start to focus on everything that is to come, what the future could look like, I feel like that’s when (expletive) gets bad. For us, it was just like, ‘How do we control one play at a time, one game at a time?’”
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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