Tyrese Haliburton Says Ivica Zubac Is Already Changing How He Plays Pick-and-Roll

Tyrese Haliburton and Ivica Zubac played the first half together Friday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the last game the Indiana Pacers will play before the regular season opens.

Haliburton finished with 17 points and 6 assists in 20:18. Zubac had 11 points and 11 rebounds on 5-of-8 shooting.

Neither played after halftime, and the Milwaukee Bucks won the preseason finale 128-127 in overtime.

Indiana acquired Zubac from the LA Clippers on Feb. 5. Haliburton spent all of 2025-26 recovering from the torn right Achilles he suffered in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals, so this preseason was the first game action the two have had together.

Haliburton has already called Zubac the best screener he has played with.

Coming off those screens, Haliburton can slow down even more, because he knows the contact is coming every time.

"His screening, he hits people, man," Haliburton said. "I feel like I can slow down even more because I know he's going to make contact all the time. He enjoys hitting people, and so it's been a lot of fun. And I think we're growing a lot in our relationship as well, just being able to communicate, because I think that he had a moving screen early that if I would just slow down, it probably would have not happened."

"And we're doing a good job, I feel like, of getting to that blind pig action is what we call it, where you hit the big and I come off the DHO," Haliburton continued. "I feel like we're doing a good job of getting to that too. So our synergy is only growing by the day and by every moment that we get to play together. And I think it's definitely exciting."

The Clippers sent Zubac and Kobe Brown to Indiana for Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, two first-round picks, and a second-round pick.

The 2026 first-rounder in that deal carried protections for picks 1-4 and 10-30. It landed at No. 5 in the lottery and went to Los Angeles.

Zubac was a second-team All-Defensive selection in 2024-25 and is signed through 2027-28.

Before the trade, he averaged 14.4 points and 11.0 rebounds while shooting 61.3% from the field for the Clippers in 2025-26.

Myles Turner, the center Zubac replaced, signed with Milwaukee in the 2025 offseason. Turner started for the Bucks on Friday and had 7 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 23:11.

Zubac dunked over him in the first half.

Pacers assistant coach Lloyd Pierce, who ran the bench Friday with Rick Carlisle away, described a flash-and-pitch action that got Zubac the ball and freed Haliburton for a jumper.

The Pacers have also gone bigger, with Obi Toppin and Pascal Siakam on the floor next to Zubac.

Haliburton said the roster has more positional size than any he has been part of.

"I enjoy being the shortest guy on the court," Haliburton explained. "I think positional size is something that our roster does a great job of. I feel like better than probably any roster that I've been a part of in terms of — Zu's obviously who he is, but when we can get into those lineups and play Obi, Pascal, and if that other guy is with me is Kelly or Drew, that's a really good lineup, defensively long, switchable."

"I feel like we do a lot of good things there," Haliburton added. "And then offensively, I feel like we can find mismatches, hunt mismatches. Especially Pascal, if he gets anybody smaller on him, we like that matchup a lot. So I think we're doing a good job of finding each other and just figuring it out. But I'm really excited for the year and very thankful that the preseason is over with."

Kelly Oubre Jr. signed a two-year deal with Indiana in July after three seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers. He started Friday and scored 4 points.

Andrew Nembhard, the other guard Haliburton named, had 11 points and 7 assists.

Milwaukee finished regulation with 18 offensive rebounds.

Indiana's guards have to box out so Zubac can get those rebounds, Haliburton said afterward. Zubac had 8 defensive rebounds and 3 on the offensive glass.

Earlier this month, Zubac talked about what excites him most about playing with Haliburton.

Indiana's first regular-season game is Wednesday, Oct. 21, against the Pelicans in New Orleans at 8 p.m. ET.

The home opener against the Dallas Mavericks is Friday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. ET.