When the Indiana Pacers sat at just 16-18 on New Year’s Day, who would’ve predicted that they’d still be in play for the third seed in the Eastern Conference with just three games left in the season? Sure, it’ll be tough — they need to win all three of their remaining games, starting with tonight’s 7 p.m. ET clash against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and hope that the New York Knicks lose out — but the fact that they’re even in this position at all is a testament to how awesome the team has been in 2025.
Indiana should get some help from its competitors tonight — the Cavaliers are sitting Donovan Mitchell (ankle), Darius Garland (toe), and Evan Mobley (rest), and the Knicks will be without OG Anunoby (thumb) and Josh Hart (knee) for their 7 p.m. ET game against the Detroit Pistons. Given how healthy all five of those players have been this season, it’s likely precautionary, but the Pacers should take advantage for the time being, especially if Tyrese Haliburton continues performing at his star level.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Indiana is a 10-point favorite and the total is set for 233.5. Below, I’ve laid out my favorite prop bets centered around Haliburton.
Best Tyrese Haliburton Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Tyrese Haliburton 11+ Assists (+110)
Given that this is the first time that the Cavaliers have had fewer than two All-Stars available for any given game, it’s hard to glean anything from Cleveland’s numbers. Tonight’s projected starting lineup of Ty Jerome, Sam Merrill, Isaac Okoro, Dean Wade, and Jarrett Allen has appeared on the court together for less than 20 total minutes this season, so how they’ll perform is anyone’s guess. But since the All-Star break, the Cavaliers have been about average defensively in pretty much every important statistic, so without an elite ceiling to decline from, it’s fair to expect that Haliburton will put together an average to above-average performance, and since the intermission, he’s averaged 11.1 assists per game, registering 11 or more in three of his last five games.
Tyrese Haliburton U16.5 Points (-110)
Again, there’s not much logic in trying to analyze what this specific Cleveland lineup will look like tonight, but if he’s focused on playmaking, Haliburton won’t need to score too much in order to make an impact. Because his usage is typically pretty low — the fourth-highest on his own team — he needs to be extremely efficient to score a lot of points; in the 40 games in which he has shot less than 50% from the field, he has only scored 17 or more points 16 times. At this point, Haliburton’s priority is making sure he’s healthy and in rhythm for the playoffs, and that won’t necessarily require him to fire away with reckless abandon. He took only eight shots in a win over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, even with Pascal Siakam absent, but he did dish out 14 assists. That sort of blueprint seems like Haliburton’s best bet in a game against a fellow contender.
