Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton had his receipts ready ahead of a recent interview with Yahoo Sports' Kevin O'Connor as he confronted the podcaster over deleted playoff tweets on X, formerly Twitter. While recovering from an Achilles tear, Haliburton will help the Pacers from the sidelines in 2025-26. However, he didn't forget the criticism he received before reaching the 2025 NBA Finals.
Haliburton and the Pacers' unexpected run through the Eastern Conference surprised many, including O'Connor, whose old comments about Haliburton resurfaced in his interview with the Pacers starting guard, per Yahoo Sports' The Kevin O'Connor Show.
“You tweeted, ‘Tyrese Haliburton dilly-dallies around the perimeter too much on offense. Lacks aggression in the paint. No willingness to take midrange. Too much of a cone on defense. Aloof of-ball. An inexplicably bad Game Five. He needs to take this offseason to figure out who he wants to be.' That is what you tweeted,” Haliburton said. “Now, I will say I did have a really bad game. I do remember that.”
O'Connor admits his breakdown of Haliburton's game was “too harsh.”
“There’s a lot of statements in there,” Haliburton added. “It’s not like a, ‘he needs to shoot the mid-range more, I think he can be better defensively.” It was just like, “‘He’s aloof, he doesn’t shoot the mid.'” It was very statements; you were very… you know what I mean. I'm just putting it out there.”
O'Connor has since deleted the post on X, formerly Twitter.
“It sounded like a shock-jock radio host is what that sounds like to me,” O'Connor said about his own quote. “But I’ll tell you what Tyrese, about your mid-range jumper before you got to go. You were like a near 50% guy on pull up mid-range jumpers. And that is the source of me saying if the step back three’s not there, the pull up middy is for you.”
Haliburton says it's a testament to the reps he's put into his mid-range shot.
“I feel like I’ve done it more,” Haliburton said.
How Tyrese Haliburton will help the Pacers in 2025-26
As head coach Rick Carlisle prepares for life without Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton, it will be a unique experience for the young guard. It's one Haliburton is looking forward to, he said, per USA Today.
“I think whenever you don't get to play, you get a new perspective on things,” Haliburton said. “I think there's always time to learn and grow, and I think that for me this year, not being able to play, I'm going to see the game differently, potentially see it more from a coaching perspective, where I don't always see eye-to-eye with our coaching staff and what they're seeing. I look forward to being able to digest the game without playing for a full year.”
The Pacers will face the Spurs in their preseason finale on Friday.
