David Fizdale expected to name Keith Smart a Knicks assistant

Tyrese Haliburton’s “mission” is to use the Indiana Pacers’ success in the In-Season Tournament and the regular season to recruit star players to the team, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

“This is a team with salary cap space and draft picks. And [Haliburton] knows that his team president Kevin Pritchard has been really aggressive in the last year trying to chase players like Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby in Toronto, offering big trade packages for players who could become free agents in the near future.

“And what changes the equation for the Pacers now is that they know they have a Pied Piper in Tyrese Haliburton that guys are going to want to play with. And as Haliburton said to me, ‘I’m going to get you shots, I’m going to make life easy for you, and we are going to win.’

“And that is really Haliburton’s mission right now, to use this tournament, to use this season to start making the case to star players around the league, ‘Come play with me in Indiana,'” said Wojnarowski.

Haliburton had 27 points and 15 assists in leading the Pacers to the final of the In-Season Tournament against the Lakers.

Steve Nash has signed on to join Amazon Prime’s NBA broadcast team for the 25-26 season, marking the network’s first year of coverage under its new 11-year, $20 billion rights deal with the league.

Nash will work across both studio and game coverage beginning in October, joining a team that already includes studio host Taylor Rooks and analysts Dirk Nowitzki and Blake Griffin, who were announced as the network’s first studio personalities in January.

This represents Nash’s entry into traditional NBA broadcasting after recently becoming more visible in the basketball media landscape as co-host of LeBron James’ “Mind the Game” podcast. Nash replaced JJ Redick on the show after Redick was hired as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers last June.

According to league sources who spoke with The Stein Line, Nash is not using broadcasting as a pathway back to coaching. Despite being mentioned as a potential candidate for the Phoenix Suns’ coaching vacancy and his strong ties to the organization as a former player and Phoenix resident, the 51-year-old reportedly has no plans to pursue that position.

The Amazon role marks Nash’s second major media position, but his first in basketball. He previously served as part of Turner Sports’ Champions League soccer coverage for two seasons before his unexpected hiring as Brooklyn Nets coach entering the 20-21 season.

Nash’s coaching tenure with the Nets lasted just over two seasons, ending in November 2022, after which he largely stepped away from the NBA spotlight until his recent podcast partnership with James.