"They want what I have": Tyrese Haliburton believes both young and old players in the NBA are gunning for him
Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton has developed into one of the NBA's top floor generals, helping lead his team to the Eastern Conference finals last season. As he rose to stardom, he shared in a recent interview that he feels he's in a "middle ground" between being a young player and a veteran, noting that others are now targeting him.
In an interview with GQ, Tyrese Haliburton, who is part of Team USA for the 2024 Paris Olympics, discussed how the NBA is in a phase where new faces are emerging alongside established superstars like LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant.
However, he mentioned that he feels caught in the middle and finds it interesting how he can establish his place.
“I think that’s kind of the interesting part: the young guys are gunning for me because they want what I have,” he said.
“And the older guys, as they should, are also coming for me because they want to keep it established that this is still their league. So that’s kind of the fun part of being in the middle.”
Entering his fifth NBA season, the point guard still views himself as a young player in the league.
“I hate how ‘passing the torch’ sounds, but there are a lot of young guys who are establishing themselves, me included,” he said.
“And so it’s a lot of different guys gunning for different positions and different statures within the league. So I’m gonna get everybody’s best shot every night.”
Last season, Tyrese Haliburton averaged 20.1 points, a career-high 10.9 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game for the Pacers en route to his second All-Star appearance and getting into the All-NBA Third Team.
Examining Tyrese Haliburton’s minutes for Team USA in exhibition play
Tyrese Haliburton is one of the 12 players on the star-studded Team USA squad for the Paris Olympics, but a pattern in the team’s exhibition games suggests he might be the odd man out.
In Team USA’s first game against Canada, Tyrese Haliburton played 20 minutes, contributing two points, four rebounds, six assists, four steals and a block in an 86-72 win. He had a game-high plus-minus of plus-17.
In the next game, a 98-92 win over Australia, Haliburton played 18 minutes and recorded six points, one rebound and two assists.
Haliburton logged 14 minutes in Team USA’s 105-79 win over Serbia in their third game, tallying one rebound, three assists and one steal.
In Team USA’s close game against South Sudan, he played just seven minutes and recorded only one rebound in their 101-100 win.
Haliburton did not play in Team USA’s exhibition play finale against Germany, which they won 92-88.