May be an image of 3 people, people playing basketball and text

Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton explained how he became close with Fever star Caitlin Clark.

Haliburton, who attended a number of Fever games this season, was asked about how his and Clark’s relationship blossomed throughout her rookie year — and he revealed it started with her boyfriend, Connor McCaffery, a former team assistant for the Pacers.

“I grew pretty close with Connor McCaffery being an intern with [the Pacers] last year and I’ve grown to be pretty close with Caitlin and him,” Haliburton said at Pacers media day Monday.

“Me, her, him and my girlfriend Jade all have a group chat that we talk in pretty often about everything.


“So it’s been cool to just grow a friendship with her. I don’t want to be — everybody just wants to like get more from her, take more from her, get more answers to things and I don’t want to be that. We’re friends and I think that that’s a cool part if she wants to talk basketball, we’ll talk basketball. If not, I’m totally fine with that as well. But I think we’ve grown a pretty cool friendship alongside Connor.”

Tyrese Haliburton talks about his close friendship with Caitlin Clark at Pacers media day on Sept. 30, 2024. Tyrese Haliburton talks about his close friendship with Caitlin Clark at Pacers media day on Sept. 30, 2024.
Haliburton went on to discuss Clark’s growth from playing at Iowa to being selected by the Fever with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA draft.

The Fever were eliminated from the WNBA playoffs after a Game 2 loss to Sun in the first round last week.

“It’s been really cool to see her growth this last year and the Fever as a whole,” he said. “To see Kelsey [Mitchell] get some playoff experience, the whole group, Aliyah [Boston] … They’re a young group, they’ll be back for success.

“Now, I’m locked in to watching more WNBA.”
Caitlin Clark and Connor McCaffery in August 2023. Caitlin Clark and Connor McCaffery in August 2023.Instagram/Caitlin Clark
Clark and McCaffery — a former member of Iowa’s men’s basketball team and the son of Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery — celebrated one year together in April, she shared in a post on Instagram at the time.

She went public with their relationship when she shared photos of the couple on a boat together in August 2023.

Earlier this month, McCaffrey was hired as an assistant coach at Butler under head coach Thad Matta.