{"id":111741,"date":"2025-06-20T09:28:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T09:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/111741\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T09:28:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T09:28:13","slug":"pacers-star-t-j-mcconnells-wife-trending-during-2025-nba-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/111741\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacers Star T.J. McConnell\u2019s Wife Trending During 2025 NBA Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pacers Star T.J. McConnell\u2019s Wife Trending During 2025 NBA Finals<\/a> originally appeared on The Spun<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tyrese Haliburton might be the face of the franchise for the Indiana Pacers, but T.J. McConnell has been their not-so-secret weapon during the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

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Coming into Game 6 of the NBA Finals, the Pacers were unsure if Haliburton would be able to play due to a calf injury. The coaching staff wasn’t ready to sound the alarm though since they have McConnell. In Game 5, he kept Indiana in the game with 18 points off the bench.<\/p>\n

“He is another ball handler, someone that can get us to our spots, push the pace,” Pacers star Pascal Siakam said. “He played great last game. He is going to be huge for us going forward too.”<\/p>\n

Pacers forward Obi Toppin also had high praise for McConnell.<\/p>\n

“Everyone knows what they\u2019ve got to do when they\u2019re on the floor with T.J.\u00a0We expect him to get in the paint. We expect him to move the ball. We know what he\u2019s doing when we\u2019re out there, so it makes our job easier,” Toppin said, via NBA.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"INDIANAPOLIS,<\/p>\n

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – JUNE 19: T.J. McConnell #9 of the Indiana Pacers handles the ball against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second quarter in Game Six of the 2025 NBA Finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on June 19, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Maddie Meyer\/Getty Images)Maddie Meyer&sol;Getty Images<\/p>\n

While there’s no question Indiana fans have grown to love McConnell over the past six years, his wife is without a doubt his biggest supporter.<\/p>\n

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In 2017, McConnell got married to\u00a0his longtime partner in\u00a0Valerie Guiliani. He posted a beautiful message for her on their third anniversary.<\/p>\n

“First off Happy Anniversary to the most beautiful, kind, sweetest person I know. These last 3 years have been the best of my life. I can\u2019t wait to continue to do life with you. I love you so much,” McConnell wrote on Instagram.<\/p>\n

During the 2024 NBA playoffs, Haliburton gave McConnell’s wife a shoutout. He referred to her as McConnell’s good luck charm.<\/p>\n

“I knew he was going to respond cause his wife Val is here and I always tell him he plays better when Val is at the game,” Haliburton told reporters.<\/p>\n

If the Pacers force a Game 7, they may want to consider flying McConnell’s wife to Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n

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In the meantime, McConnell will try to keep Indiana’s championship hopes alive.<\/p>\n

McConnell is averaging 11.2 points and 4.2 assists per game during the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

Related: ‘Perfect’ Pacers Dancer Is Going Viral Before Game 4<\/a><\/p>\n

Pacers Star T.J. McConnell\u2019s Wife Trending During 2025 NBA Finals<\/a> first appeared on The Spun on Jun 20, 2025<\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by The Spun<\/a> on Jun 20, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pacers Star T.J. McConnell\u2019s Wife Trending During 2025 NBA Finals originally appeared on The Spun. Tyrese Haliburton might…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3774],"tags":[11875,7,113,126,3866,6,1220,3308,475,179,114,279,3886,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-111741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indiana-pacers","8":"tag-2025-nba-finals","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-indiana","11":"tag-indiana-pacers","12":"tag-indianapacers","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nba-finals","15":"tag-obi-toppin","16":"tag-oklahoma-city","17":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","18":"tag-pacers","19":"tag-pascal-siakam","20":"tag-t-j-mcconnell","21":"tag-tyrese-haliburton"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114714988045708732","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}