Due to different reasons, the concept of positional play in the NBA is becoming more and more blurred, which has also led to the emergence of many two-way guards or ball-handling forwards with all-round playing styles such as James, Peak Harden, and Doncic. In the younger generation, there is no doubt that the stars of the Middle East, Alexander, Trae Young and other stars are very good ball-handling cores, especially the top two, and they have played at an MVP-level level this season.
Doncic is averaging 33.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 9.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game this season, including career highs in points and assists per game, and in 23 of the 31 games he played, he scored at least 30+, including 5 40+ games and 1 50+ game. And Doncic is so good that he has no shortcomings in his offense with the ball, this season he has 15 games of assists can be double-doubled, and 11 games his data are at least 30 + 10, under his leadership the Mavericks can have the current results, it can be said that in terms of influence on the offensive end, Doncic can definitely be called the top three in the active team.
And Alexander's performance this season is not bad at all, he can contribute 31.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.6 steals per game, shooting 54.6% from the field. Compared to Doncic, although Alexander is much worse at developing the team's offense, he also has many strengths that the former does not have. Alexander is very stable in terms of individual offense, with a three-point shooting rate of only 31.7%, his overall offense is still very efficient, his mid-range, breakthrough, and killing skills are very skilled, and on the defensive end Alexander is also a "big lock", and he is likely to win the steal king award this season.
In addition to the above two MVP-level superstars, there are many other outside ball-handling cores in the league who are also playing very well, such as Fox, Curry, Booker, Edwards, etc. Of course, we can't ignore Haliburton, who broke out this season, when he was an All-Star last season, the outside world still said that he was just an All-Star, and his strength was much worse, and when the Pacers gave Haliburton a contract of up to 5 years and 260 million in the offseason, many people were also questioning whether Haliburton could deserve the price.
Fortunately, Haliburton not only did not "flash in the pan" as the outside world said, but he has played better this season, and he can see obvious improvement in all aspects. So far, Haliburton has averaged 24.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, 12.7 assists and 1 steal per game, shooting 50.1% from the field and 40.6% from three-point range.
Last season, Haliburton played a total of 56 games in the regular season, and he scored 30+ games in a total of only 6 games, and this season Haliburton has played 30 games (including the midseason finals), but 7 games have individual points above 30 points, and in the game against the Heat, Haliburton set a new career high with 44 points, 2 rebounds and 10 assists in a single game. In the case of a surge in ball possession, Haliburton has greatly improved his strength in attacking the ball, not to mention his projection, even if it is a much-criticized breakthrough and kill, he has also made significant progress, and this season his basket shooting percentage, shooting percentage, and free throw times are all career highs.
Of course, while improving his individual offense, Haliburton's biggest advantage has also continued to improve, and his average of 12.7 assists per game this season is not only a new career high, but also occupies the first place in the NBA assist list this season, and opens up a very obvious gap between the second place. And Haliburton is not only strong in assists, he also does a very good job of controlling turnovers, his assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.8 can rank 7th in the league, and none of the six players in front of him carry the ball more than Haliburton on the offensive end.
So far, Haliburton has 26 games of assists have double-doubles, and in 7 of those games he has at least 15 assists, in the recent games against the Bulls and Knicks, Haliburton has delivered 20+ assists in two consecutive games, against the Bulls he cut 21 points, 3 rebounds, 20 assists, 2 steals and 0 turnovers, against the Knicks he cut 22 points, 5 rebounds, 23 assists and 2 turnovers, such a performance even Paul in his prime has never done.
Under the tandem of Haliburton, the Pacers have also played a mercury-like offense this season, and so far they have ranked among the top in the league in many offensive statistics, averaging 126.4 points per game (first in the league), 122.2 offensive efficiency (first in the league), 30.6 assists per game (first in the league), shooting 50.6% (first in the league), and 57 interior points per game (first in the league). Averaging 17.6 points per game (the league's first), just by looking at those stats, you can see just how good the Pacers have been on the offensive end this season.
It is precisely because of the Pacers' extreme offense that they can have a place in the East today, they are currently ranked sixth in the East with a record of 18-14, as long as they continue to maintain their current results, the Pacers can get a direct ticket to the playoffs, although it is difficult to achieve this goal, but under the leadership of Haliburton, the Pacers are not impossible, and now the season is about to pass the halfway point, and their ability to rank in this position shows that they have the strength.
And with the rise of Haliburton and the Pacers, those who questioned that the Pacers should not give Haliburton a maximum salary contract can also shut up, for the Pacers, fortunately, they completed an early contract extension with Haliburton in advance, otherwise after he was selected to the best team this season, he would have to spend tens of millions more. However, judging from Haliburton's current strength and age, he is definitely worthy of a super cap salary, and at only 23 years old, he may not have ushered in his peak season, so the Pacers can make a lot of money if they can keep him on a 5-year contract.