Tyrese Haliburton drops unseen pic wearing LeBron James jersey sent by mom to celebrate his Olympic gold victory
While he didn't see much time on the court, Tyrese Haliburton was part of the star-studded Team USA roster for the 2024 Olympics. After winning his first gold medal, the young All-Star shared some shocking photos from his youth.
Leading the charge for the United States in basketball were three stars who have been faces of the NBA for over a decade now. LeBron James and Kevin Durant added more gold medals to their collection, while Steph Curry made his debut in the Summer Games.
As one of the league's younger stars, Tyrese Haliburton grew up idolizing these stars. He made multiple posts on X (formerly Twitter) showing just how big a fan he was. The first was two photos of him wearing a LeBron jersey as a child.
Shortly after, Haliburton made another post of him sporting an old Durant Team USA jersey.
Due to the abundance of star talent on the roster, Haliburton struggled to see consistent minutes. That said, it was likely still a positive experience for the Indiana Pacers guard. Aside from getting to train alongside some of the league's top players and coaches, Haliburton got to be teammates with some of his childhood heroes.
Tyrese Haliburton goes viral with gold medal social media post
While many people zeroed in on Jayson Tatum's lack of playing time, Tyrese Haliburton easily played the least of anyone on Team USA. Some players might have been frustrated by this, but he managed to have fun with the situation.
On Saturday afternoon, Team USA took on France in the highly-anticipated gold medal matchup. Thanks to impressive showing from numerous stars, the United States was able to come away victorious.
Following the win, all the players on Team USA started putting up pictures online with their newly-acquired gold medals. However, nobody had a better post than Tyrese Haliburton. He compared his Olympics run to getting an A on a project he didn't have to do any work for.
In total, Haliburton only logged 26 minutes in the Olympics. Most of those came during Team USA's blowout victory against Puerto Rico in the Group Phase round. Haliburton did get playing time against Brazil in the quarterfinals but didn't appear in either of the final two games. During his short stint of action, Haliburton logged eight points, zero rebounds, two assists and one steal.
The United States likely brought him along to start gearing the program for the future. With most of the top stars being in their mid-to-late 30s, it's doubtful they'll suit up for the Olympics again in 2028. That said, Team USA needs stars like Haliburton and Anthony Edwards in the pipeline to lead the charge in the future.