Tyrese Haliburton Admits He Struggled with Team USA Benching During Paris Olympics

Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton admitted that his limited role with the United States basketball team at the 2024 Summer Olympics impacted him more than he initially let on.

Speaking to ESPN's Jamal Collier, Haliburton called it an "ego check" when recalling the fact that he played only 26 total minutes in Paris, which were the fewest of any player on Team USA.

In reference to jokes being made about his lack of participation on social media, Haliburton remembered thinking, "I'm getting clowned. How do I respond?"

Haliburton's first instinct was to play along, as he made a humorous post on X about winning a gold medal despite not contributing to the "group project."

However, Haliburton told Collier that deep down he was motivated to prove his detractors wrong, saying: "When the season starts, I'm like, 'I'm going to go now. I'm going to get back at y'all.'"

Coming off a hamstring injury suffered during the 2024 NBA playoffs that he didn't have proper time to heal from during the offseason, Haliburton largely struggled during the first half of the 2024-25 campaign.

He averaged just 17.8 points and 8.5 assists per game, while shooting 45 percent from the field prior to the All-Star break, resulting in the first time he wasn't selected to the All-Star Game since the 2021-22 season.

That caused the criticism to mount, and Haliburton noted that it began to bother him rather than fuel him:

"Come back in. I'm terrible. How the f--- can I talk? It got to the point where all that conversation was weighing on me in a negative way for the first time in my life, which was weird. I have been somebody who seeks out that external negativity, and now it's weighing on me?"

Haliburton added: "Basketball has always made me happy. And for the first time I wasn't happy."

It would have been easy for Haliburton to chalk it up as a lost season, but he battled and showed marked improvement during the second half, finishing with averages of 18.6 points, 9.2 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game, while shooting 47.3 percent from the field and 38.8 percent from beyond the arc.

Haliburton's strong play has carried over to the postseason, as he is averaging 18.7 points per game on 48.1 percent shooting, along with 9.5 assists and 5.4 rebounds.

The 25-year-old guard has been a driving force behind Indiana's unlikely run to a second consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearance, and he is a big reason why they are up 1-0 on the New York Knicks.

In Game 1 on the road at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, Haliburton hit the game-tying shot at the buzzer to send the game in overtime, and the Pacers went on to pull off a 138-135 victory.

Haliburton finished with a team-leading 31 points as well, cementing his place in the storied Pacers vs. Knicks rivalry along with Hall of Famer Reggie Miller.

While Haliburton has already silenced many of his doubters, leading the Pacers to their first NBA Finals since 2000 and potentially their first NBA championship in franchise history would be the ultimate mic drop.