Haliburton Leads Pacers to 2-1 Lead in NBA Finals

Tyrese Haliburton, the 25-year-old starting point guard for the Indiana Pacers, is currently experiencing a remarkable moment in his career. Despite the Oklahoma City Thunder having the best record in the NBA this year and their star player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, being named league MVP, the Thunder are now just two games away from elimination in the NBA Finals, thanks to Haliburton and his Pacers. Haliburton, who was voted “most overrated” in an anonymous survey of his peers this year, is now solidifying his status as a legend.

Haliburton has faced numerous challenges throughout his career. He was not considered a top prospect coming out of high school, despite leading his team to a state championship and being named Wisconsin Player of the Year in 2018. He was traded by the Sacramento Kings, the team that drafted him out of college, in 2022. He was also part of the 2024 Olympics roster in Paris but saw limited court time. Additionally, he has an unconventional shooting form. An anonymous survey of NBA players conducted by The Athletic named him the league’s “most overrated” player.

However, in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, Haliburton has proven himself to be a crucial player. He has made numerous clutch plays and four game-winning shots—one in each round of the playoffs, including the ongoing NBA Finals—helping the Pacers get just two games away from winning the Larry O’Brien trophy. The Pacers currently hold a 2-1 lead against the Oklahoma City Thunder, who had the best record in the league this year, and their leader Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s reigning MVP.

For Haliburton, who signed a five-year deal with the Pacers in 2023 worth up to $260 million, with approximately $244.6 million fully guaranteed, the 2025 NBA Playoffs have been a breakthrough moment. However, his journey to this point has not been easy. Haliburton was born to two basketball-minded parents: His father, John, was a basketball coach and referee, and his mother, Brenda, was also a basketball coach. As a high school sophomore at Oshkosh North in Wisconsin, Haliburton was named the Fox Valley Association Player of the Year. As a senior, he won numerous awards including the Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year, leading his team to a Division I state championship in 2018.

Despite his high school accomplishments, Haliburton was only considered a three-star recruit out of five stars. In college, Haliburton was a top performer for the Iowa State Hawkeyes, recording the most assists ever by an Iowa State player in a single game, beating the previous record set in 1974. However, a wrist fracture derailed his sophomore year, which affected his status in the 2020 NBA Draft. He fell out of the top 10 as a result of his injury, landing in the No. 12 spot. Due to the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), rookies can make significantly more money based on their draft status; even being drafted just a few spots higher could’ve landed Haliburton millions more in his rookie contract, a meaningful amount for someone early in their career.

During his first year in the NBA, Haliburton finished third in Rookie of the Year voting and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, but missed the last leg of the season due to a knee injury. Unfortunately for Haliburton, the Sacramento Kings had a different person in mind to be their star point guard, signing De’Aaron Fox to a five-year extension in 2020. The next year, the Kings selected another point guard in the 2021 NBA Draft: Davion Mitchell. With one too many point guards on their roster at the time, the Kings decided to part ways with Haliburton, trading him to the Indiana Pacers in February 2022.

Haliburton got off to a strong start with his new team, becoming an All-Star for the first time in 2023, signing a lucrative contract extension with the team worth up to $260 million over five years, and representing the U.S. Men’s National Team at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. However, that run in the FIBA World Cup was ultimately disappointing, and his team finished in fourth place. “We spent like a month, 40 days together, and I left with nothing,” Haliburton told The Indianapolis Star in 2024.

Last year, Haliburton became an All-Star starter for the first time after weeks of stellar play, including becoming the only fifth player in NBA history to record more than 30 points, 15 assists, and zero turnovers in a single game. But in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics, he suffered a hamstring injury and missed the rest of the season; his Pacers also got swept by the Celtics, the eventual NBA Champions. Haliburton was also selected to represent the U.S. in the Paris Olympics, but played the fewest minutes among any player on the roster, notching only 26 minutes across three games, making him the butt of many jokes online. In an interview with ESPN, Haliburton said he struggled with his mental health after being stuck on the bench during the Olympics, which he called an “ego check.”

However, just one year after Haliburton’s summer to forget, he’s now having a summer for the ages—one that will be ingrained in the minds of many fans for years to come. In the 2025 NBA Playoffs, Haliburton has scored five game-tying or go-ahead shots—the most in league history after Lebron James, with eight—and notably hit four game-winning shots in the postseason so far, one in each round. It’s a Cinderella story for Haliburton and the Pacers, who only have one All-Star on the team this year, and finished fourth in the Eastern Conference and only had the sixth-best record in the league overall. The team they’re currently facing—and beating, two games to one—in the NBA Finals, the Oklahoma City Thunder, won 18 more games in the regular season compared to Haliburton’s Pacers.

Despite Haliburton’s shortcomings and disappointments over the years, and despite being named “most overrated” player in an anonymous survey of his NBA peers this year, he has proven his doubters wrong after his comebacks and game winners in the current NBA postseason: “Overrate THAT.”