It was a disappointing end to the season for the Indiana Pacers and Tyrese Haliburton. The Boston Celtics swept Indiana in the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday. Three of the four games were hard-fought, but Boston found ways to win them all.
The 24-year-old Haliburton missed the final two games of the series with a hamstring injury. The All-NBA Third Team member first suffered the hamstring injury in January and re-injured it in Game 3 against the Celtics. While the Pacers can now focus on the offseason, Haliburton has plans for the summer.
Could the Pacers star make the U.S. Olympic team?
Can Tyrese Haliburton compete in the Olympics?
Speaking of disappointing results, the United States men’s basketball team was in the FIBA World Cup last year. They lost to Canada in the bronze medal game and didn’t even win a medal. Many of the United States’ stars were heartbroken by the results and vowed to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The hamstring injury may have put into question whether the 6-foot-5 Haliburton will be able to play for the U.S. national team in Paris, but after speaking with Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star, it doesn’t appear to be an issue.
Haliburton said he doesn’t expect the injury to be an issue at the Olympics because he has six weeks of recovery before joining training camp and plans to do his rehab in Indy.
— Dustin Dopirak (@DustinDopirak) May 28, 2024
Since NBA players were recognized, they have had a lot of success.
In 1989, FIBA changed the rules to allow professional players to compete in international competitions, including the Olympic Games. The first Olympic Games to do so were the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The U.S. team fielded what remains one of the most historic teams in basketball history. Dubbed the “Dream Team,” the U.S. team dominated opponents en route to winning the gold medal.
Eleven of the 12 players on that roster eventually made it into the Basketball Hall of Fame: David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Larry Bird, Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, Clyde Drexler, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Chris Mullin, Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson. Since that historic 1992 team, the USA has won the gold medal in men’s basketball in six of the seven Olympic Games. The only time they failed to win a gold medal was in 2004, when they won the bronze medal.
Team USA roster expands for 2024 Olympics
It’s been almost a month and a half since the USA men’s basketball roster was released, with a star-studded roster that includes the aforementioned Haliburton, as well as Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker, Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Anthony Edwards, Joel Embiid, Jrue Holiday, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and Jayson Tatum.
On paper, there’s almost no way this team can win. But sports fans know all too well that many of the superstar players aren’t from the United States. One of them is Victor Wembanyama, whose French team features plenty of NBA talent. The group stage begins on July 27th, with the gold medal game taking place on August 10th.
