INDIANAPOLIS — Tyrese Haliburton is in great form. He’s been running at full speed for weeks since recovering from a hamstring injury he suffered in the Eastern Conference finals, and he’s been working out twice a day recently in an effort to get healthy again.
That’s because he’s about to begin playing in the United States Basketball Association ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Haliburton is on the 12-man roster and is confident he’ll be healthy enough to play in the tournament. The Pacers will have their performance staff with Haliburton to keep him as healthy as possible while he’s with the team.
For Haliburton, this is a dream come true. He’s dreamed of being an Olympian his whole life and recalls often wearing Team USA jerseys as a child. “There was no way I wouldn’t want to do this,” he said on a conference call with reporters last week. “We see our role models and the players we look up to representing USA Basketball, and I wanted to be a part of that.”
This year marks the fusion of the red, white and blue eras: Bam Adebayo, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday and Jayson Tatum are all back from the last Olympics, and two-time gold medal winner LeBron James is also part of the team.
Haliburton knows he’ll get some badmouthing from Tatum and Holiday, the men who knocked him out of the postseason. But he’s still excited to be a part of the team and represent the next generation of USA Basketball. “I’m hoping they play like they do. Two of the best players in the history of basketball,” the Pacers guard said of James and Stephen Curry. “I’m looking forward to hanging out with them and hearing what they think.”
At 24, Haliburton is the second-youngest player on the team, younger than only Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards, 22. The two were members of Team USA 2023, which competed in the FIBA Men’s Basketball World Cup. They did well enough to qualify for the Olympics, but finished fourth overall and did not win the trophy.
He was disappointed to leave the tournament empty-handed, but learned a lot about playing for the U.S. national team in the process. “Every team is going to come out and give it their all,” Haliburton said. He averaged 8.6 points and 5.6 assists per game in the World Cup.
In a tournament like this, the Indiana star found that one strong shot from the opposing team can mean a loss. The U.S. team can’t afford to get into that situation at the Paris Olympics. They have to play their best every night or they could lose. The U.S. team had a few close calls at the 2021 Olympics, including a loss to France in the group stage.
“When you play for the U.S., everybody wants to lose,” said Haliburton, who saw it firsthand during World Cup losses to Germany and Canada.
This year’s team is much more talented than previous years, and Haliburton is happy to be in Paris for most of the summer. He sees his role on the team as keeping it together. Passing is his best skill. He recalled joking with Grant Hill, the managing director of the USA Basketball Men’s National Team, about playing like Jason Kidd and seeing how long he could go without taking a shot.
Most importantly, Halliburton will do whatever it takes to win. He doesn’t want to go home without a medal this time around, he wants to continue the quintessential American tradition of bringing home an Olympic gold medal. That’s almost expected, the Iowa State University alum noted.
“I’m excited. Last year was frustrating because obviously we didn’t get to do what we wanted to do,” he said of the World Cup. “Anytime you go out there with the U.S. Basketball team, you expect to win, and we didn’t do that.” He added that despite the team’s poor performance last summer, expectations will surely return at the Olympics.
A win would mean a lot to Haliburton in particular. He has joked that he’s tired of being an underdog after never winning a championship in high school, college or the NBA. He hopes to change that at the Olympics.
“More than anything,” he said, he wants to bring home a gold medal. Training camp begins this weekend, and he will be accompanied by Pacers assistant coach Jim Boylen.
