Oh, to be Tyrese Haliburton this summer
Tyrese Haliburton is living his best life this offseason.
The Summer of Tyrese continues to roll on and the Pacers star point guard is just getting rolling.
Tyrese Haliburton is hard to hate and extremely easy to enjoy. On and off the court, he exudes positive vibes, usually celebrating his teammates’ success more than his own. He’s equally unflappable with the ball in his hands in transition or a microphone in his face off the court.
Genuine is the word that comes to mind. You know, the opposite of phony.
That doesn’t mean Haliburton isn’t fiercely competitive or willing to clap back at critics, but even when acknowledging those situations, Hali is as real as it gets.
This July and August will end up altering Haliburton’s life forever. It started with a monster contract extension worth up to $260 million, which will keep No. 0 with the Pacers for six more seasons. While that $260 number is a perfect storm max number via incentives, any mentions of Tyrese include some form of Mr. 260. A recent visit with Paul George on the Podcast P podcast, PG mentioned 260 several times as did his co-hosts. Just a nice clean number used as a measuring stick to help define the elite players in Haliburton’s class.
Highly suggest investing the time to listen to the PG/Haliburton podcast, just a great conversation for Pacers fans and Tyrese is such a good, thoughtful talker (dare I say genuine) that the show is quite entertaining. BTW, PG is so comfortable in this format that he has been a great host for this podcast, really allows his true voice to shine through. Kudos to PG because I admit I didn’t see this venture being anything but painful. Instead it is incredible.
AND… if the 260 and PG pod weren’t enough, SLAM released an online cover story on Haliburton on Thursday, complete with a killer cover. Oh, and you can order a copy of the issue for the real thing.

Among the topics Haliburton hits on in the feature is his desire to WIN. As he has in nearly every interview I’ve heard since the season ended, Haliburton doesn’t shy away or make excuses for the lack of success his recent teams have endured. Again, his genuine, unflappable nature allows him to discuss an touchy subject for others not as comfortable in their own skin.
“I haven’t had a winning season in, like, four years dating back to college, so that’s just where I want to get to,” he says, later adding: “There’s obviously a lot more for me to accomplish personally, but I want to win. I want to be playing on the biggest stage, and that’s the playoffs.”
Preach.
The SLAM article also delights us with some quotes from former IC legend, Caitlin Cooper of Basketball, She Wrote. CC’s classic ‘jump passes are good’ article on Haliburton, bonded the two last season. (I’d link the article, but it is currently a lump of code on my computer that I’m waiting on Substack to help me convert along with the rest of the archive.)
For a non-Tyrese tangent, I was thinking about how impressive it is that SLAM still has a big presence among the hoop heads. Their cover shots have surpassed Sports Illustrated, as they mastered the ability to deliver a top notch product both online and on the newsstand (or in your mailbox). Seems like sticking with their primary focus on the NBA, WNBA and hoops culture has been the secret. Don’t try to expand, don’t try to partner with anyone. Just stick to what you do and do well. Bravo!
Back to the summer of Ty, Haliburton has been busy bouncing between Indy, Vegas and Los Angeles mixing work and play along the way. We learned in the SLAM piece that he spent some vacay time with Buddy Hield in the Bahamas, as well. Starting in August, the Hali’s travel goes world wide as he plays in the FIBA World Cup with USA Basketball.
The journey starts in Vegas with team camp, followed by exhibition games in Spain and Abu Dhabi, before heading to the Philippines to play the World Cup in Manila. How much Haliburton will play and what role he’ll have on the team will be fun to follow. Steve Kerr is the head coach and avowed fan of Haliburton’s, but the experience of working out and competing with the talented young roster USA Basketball put together, will only help Haliburton in his continual quest to improve his game to improve his team and entertain the fans along the way.
Very happy for him. There's a lot about Tyrese that reminds me of Reggie Miller: Similar build, awkward jumper, friendly personality. I don't know if Tyrese has that "it" factor that Miller had; the ability to take over a big game and dominate an opponent. I also don't know if Tyrese is truly a franchise guy. He seems more of a facilitator, which is certainly not a bad thing. But, does Tyrese have the franchise-player qualities of Tatum, Butler, Jokic, Giannis, Curry, etc. - the "bus driver" qualities that Barkley accurately refers to - I don't know. The player on the team that seems to have those sorts of qualities mentally is Mathurin, and people like Paul George have noted this publicly with Ben. It is all an exciting blend.
Nice, love the positive vibes all around. Hopefully we get to see Tyrese at peak level, and I for one am curious to see what that looks like. Does he have first-team All-NBA ability? MVP? It's a ways to go...