Pacers' RayJ Dennis makes case to be Tyrese Haliburton's point guard replacement

Billy Heyen

Pacers' RayJ Dennis makes case to be Tyrese Haliburton's point guard replacement image

RayJ Dennis has one of the best names in basketball. If he can get his game to match, he'll be going places.

In his 2025 NBA Summer League debut in Las Vegas, Dennis looked as good as he ever has at the professional level, and it's a crucial time for such a showing. Playing for the Indiana Pacers, a point guard has a chance to emerge given Tyrese Haliburton will miss the season with his torn Achilles.

Dennis scored 26 points, shooting 8-for-16 from the floor, 4-for-8 from 3 and 6-for-7 from the foul line.

He also dished out nine assists, grabbed four rebounds and swiped two steals.

"The Pacers may have drafted Kam Jones to provide more depth at point guard, but two-way contract guard RayJ Dennis ran the point for most of Thursday's game and looked more than comfortable in the Pacers' high-octane offense as both a distributor and a scorer," wrote Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star.

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Dennis is currently signed to a two-way contract with Indiana.

The 24-year old played his college basketball at Boise State, Toledo and Baylor. He went undrafted and appeared in 11 games for the Pacers last season.

At 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds, Dennis isn't a big point guard in the way Haliburton is, but he clearly has some game.

If he keeps playing like this the rest of the summer, RayJ may find a way to stick around.

Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle