Tyrese Haliburton surprisingly did not walk away with the Eastern Conference Finals MVP Award, and the vote was an extremely tight one.
The Indiana Pacers advanced to their first NBA Finals since 2000 with a 125-108 victory on Saturday over the New York Knicks in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference Finals series. During the contest at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind., Haliburton finished with a stout line of 21 points, six rebounds, and 13 assists to help lead the Pacers to the win.
But in the end, it was not Haliburton who won the Larry Bird ECF MVP trophy. Instead, it was Pacers teammate Pascal Siakam, who finished Game 6 with a team-high 31 points on 10/18 shooting to claim the honor.
PASCAL SIAKAM HAS BEEN NAMED THE ECF MVP pic.twitter.com/OuPZkdqWiq
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 1, 2025
The NBA revealed that the vote for the award was as close as can be — five of the nine media members who voted cast their ballots for Siakam while the other four (including Reggie Miller) selected Haliburton.
Pascal Siakam received five of the nine votes for Eastern Conference Finals MVP from a media panel covering the series. Tyrese Haliburton received the other four votes. pic.twitter.com/ZdpvJsRaTf
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) June 1, 2025
Both Haliburton and Siakam had excellent cases for the award. As the Pacers’ floor general, Haliburton averaged 21.0 points and 10.5 assists per game, including providing the series-defining moment in Game 1 and dropping an incredible 32-12-15 triple-double in Game 4.
But it was Siakam who was the more consistent scorer, averaging 24.8 points over the course of the series. In any case however, Haliburton is probably happy to cede the honors to his Pacers co-star, and he will be relying on Siakam’s expertise (as a former NBA champion with the Toronto Raptors) during the upcoming NBA Finals between the Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
