Tyrese Haliburton is currently leading one of the best offenses in the NBA in his 4th season, but in his early basketball days, he struggled to field high division 1 college offers; let’s look back at his basketball story.
Tyrese Haliburton’s Early Life
Haliburton was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on February 23rd, 2000. He had the proper setup to become an NBA player in his early life. Haliburton attended a kids’ camp with legendary high school coach Frank Schade when he was six. Schade had been with his local high school, Oshkosh North, for 30-plus years. At that camp, he learned ball handling and shooting drills, and Haliburton would do those same drills every day until he turned 16.
High School Career
Like many other NBA players, Haliburton had a tremendous high school career; as a sophomore, he was named to the all-conference second and defensive teams. In his Junior year, he averaged 18 points, six assists, and five boards a game, which earned him conference player of the year. As a senior, his team was 26-1, and he had his best season, averaging 22.9 points, 6.2 assists, 5.1 boards, 3.5 steals, and 1.7 Blocks per game. He included a 42-point career-high performance against Jordan Mccabe in his senior year. He had a 31-point game in the state championship game to lead his program to their first state title. Haliburton again saw a flurry of awards, including co-player of the year in his conference and Wisconsin Gatorade player of the year in 2018.
Despite all these awards, Haliburton was only a 3-star recruit, and while he did have a decent amount of Division 1 offers, a lot of them were mid-major programs. He visited 4 colleges: Northern Iowa, Iowa State, Nebraska, and Cincinnati. After visiting Iowa State, he immediately committed to joining their program to further his basketball career.
Iowa State
During his freshman season, Haliburton showed flashes of the player we know today; early in his debut season, he had a 15-point, 17-assist game against Southern; those 17 assists were the most in a game by an Iowa State player ever. He was the only true freshman other than Zion Williamson to accumulate 50 steals and 30 blocks in that season. As a freshman, he averaged a modest 6.8 points, 3.6 assists, and 1.5 steals in 35 games. As a sophomore, Haliburton completely flipped the switch and turned into an elite playmaker with a high basketball IQ. On November 11th, 2019, he was named Big-12 Player of the Week when he averaged 13.5 points and 13 assists per game.
Later in the season, in a game against TCU, he accumulated 22 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists, which was the first triple-double by an Iowa St player since Monte Morris in 2016. Unfortunately for Haliburton, his season ended prematurely when he fractured his wrist on Feb 8th in a game against Kansas St. At the end of the season, he was named second team all big 129 boards, 6.5 assists, with numbers of 15.2 points, 5 Rebounds and 2.5 steals per game. Haliburton was getting lottery pick buzz, so he decided to forgo his remaining eligibility and enter his name into the 2020 NBA draft.
NBA career
In his rookie year, Haliburton started off coming off the bench but eventually worked his way into the starting lineup besides another great PG, De’aaron Fox. He played 58 games, starting 20, and finished with 13 Points, 3 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game, which earned him all-rookie team honors and a 3rd place finish in ROTY voting.
In his 2nd season, Haliburton got off to a hot start, averaging 14.3 points and 7.4 assists per game, but the Kings had a problem. They had two great point guards but not much else around them as a supporting cast. As a result, they made one of the fairest trades in NBA history when they moved Haliburton to the Pacers in exchange for Domantas Sabonis. This trade has worked out great for both sides and allowed Haliburton to be the captain of his offense. He immediately impacted Indiana, averaging 17.4 points and 9.6 assists per game in the remainder of that season.
Last Season Haliburton struggled with injuries but when he was out there the Pacers were a considerably better team, Haliburton tallied 20.7 points, 10.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game en route to his 1st NBA all star game appearance. He was also the first player in NBA history to average 20 points and 10 assists while also shooting 40 percent from 3. Before this season, Haliburton signed a max extension worth 260 million.
This season has been nothing short of incredible for him. He was selected as an all-star starter in the Eastern Conference. In 35 games, he has averaged 23.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 12.5 assists per night. The Pacers are averaging a league-high 124.8 points per game while shooting 50.7 percent from the field.
Future
Tyrese Haliburton is becoming a top player in this league. This season, he is showing everyone that he was worth that maximum deal. If he continues this level of production, he will have a chance at making an all-NBA team, and he will continue this, provided he stays healthy.