Tyrese Haliburton's time on the Olympic bench was "an ego-check" but enjoyable

INDIANAPOLIS -- For all the high-fiving and hugging and smiling everyone saw from him on television, Tyrese Haliburton couldn't deny that he was masking a slightly wounded psyche as he spent most of his first Olympics watching from the bench.

The Pacers' two-time All-Star point guard has been underestimated in the past, frequently noting that he was a "no-star recruit" at Oshkosh North High School in Wisconsin until he finally started getting high-major offers in the summer before his senior season and that he played travel basketball with a team that wasn't affiliated with a shoe company. But there was never a time that he played for a team that wasn't willing to put him on the floor, and in just about every case he was the man with the ball in his hand and the keys to the offense. The only time he watched games from the sidelines were when he was hurt.

So even though Haliburton expected to be a supporting actor on a Team USA squad fronted by several of the best basketball players to ever walk the Earth, the fact that he was by far the least-used player on the roster was still a shock to the system. After losing his spot as the backup point guard to late addition Derrick White during exhibition play, Haliburton appeared in just three of Team USA's six Olympic games - sitting out their thrilling wins over Serbia and France in the semifinals and finals entirely -- and played a combined total of 26 minutes and 20 seconds in those three appearances. No one else on the team played fewer than 71 minutes. Haliburton drilled a pair of 3-pointers against South Sudan in group play and made a 2-pointer against Brazil in the quarterfinals, but he finished the Olympics with a total of eight points and two assists.

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"I have never in my life had to sit on the bench, really, for anything," Haliburton said Monday at Pacers media day in his first open media session in Indianapolis since the July-August Olympics. "I came into the NBA a lottery pick. I played a ton (as a rookie). Even though I came off the bench, I played a ton. From my second year on, I've started and had a ton of success. Obviously, before the NBA I had a ton of success in my career and rarely was on the bench during the game let alone sat on the bench for the whole game. It was definitely an ego check for me."

But it was also obvious throughout the tournament that Haliburton was being intentional about not showing a wounded ego and reminding himself how much it meant for him just to get a spot on the team even if it was technically the last one. LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant -- James especially -- were all among his heroes growing up and he had a seat for what will likely be their last ride in international basketball.

So that's why Haliburton was jumping off the bench for James' breakaway dunks and dazzling passes, Curry's 3-pointers from impossible distance and Durant's barrage of buckets that made him Team USA's all-time leading career scorer by the time the Olympics were over. He wasn't any less excited for teammates closer to his age, such as Anthony Edwards and Devin Booker.

And he noticed the jokes being made online about his lack of playing time, so he decided to play into them. After the Americans beat France in the championship game, he took a picture of himself in the locker room holding up his gold medal and posted it on Twitter with the caption, "When you ain’t do nun on the group project and still get an A." The post went instantly viral with comments praising his self-awareness.

"Early on it was probably more frustrating than not," Haliburton said. "But I think as time when on it was just about, like, I could throw a fit and be mad at the world, or I could get this experience that I'm going to tell my kids about one day, being with some of the greatest players to ever touch a basketball."

Haliburton drank in the the moments he spent with his teammates. In games it was noticeable that he tried to be near Durant, James and Curry when they weren't in games. When players went to watch women's games or to check out other sports such as women's gymnastics, Haliburton made a point to be part of the traveling party. And he savored the time the team spent in their hotel in Lille, France, about 2 1/2 hours north of Paris near where the group play games were held at Pierre Mauroy Stadium before the knockout round games in Accor Arena in Paris.

"We would play video games and eat dinner together, like, the whole team as a group the whole night," Haliburton said. "Sometimes we'd be there for like four or five hours sitting in the food room and playing NCAA or something. It was a ton of fun just to be around those guys, get to know them more on a personal level. When you're playing in these (NBA) games, you say, 'What up?' and you give the typical, 'How are the kids doing?' and you keep it moving. But to get to know them a little better was I think a lot of fun. I enjoyed every part of it."

Though James was his favorite player growing up, Haliburton put the most effort into getting to know Curry, because up until the Olympics, those superficial post-game conversations were all the connection he'd ever had to the two-time MVP and the NBA's all-time leading 3-point shooter. Steve Kerr, Team USA's coach and Curry's coach with the Golden State Warriors, noted the similarities in their games and said Haliburton brings joy to the game the same way that Curry does. That was a big reason why Kerr wanted Haliburton on the team in the first place after Haliburton played for Team USA last summer under Kerr last summer for the FIBA World Cup.

"It was funny before the Olympics me and Steph had never spoken before," Haliburton said. "We have never really said two words to each other except for 'good game.' So to kind of go and have dinner with him and go and pick his brain, because we have similarities as far as our defensive, um, limitations, I think you could say. I think at the same time he's had so much success while having similar defensive limitations as me. Just picking his brain on things like that was important for me."

By the end of it, Haliburton was doing Curry's "night-night" celebration after the daggers that clinched the gold medal, assuring the Americans maintained their dominance in the sport with their fifth straight gold. It was Haliburton's second championship in international play -- the first being a gold medal with Team USA in the FIBA U-19 World Cup in 2019 -- but the first with a senior national team, and it helped make up for the disappointing fourth-place finish in the World Cup the season before.

"It was a little bit of an ego hit for me, but truthfully, all that matters was winning," Haliburton said. "I can say that I didn't care but you know me and you know that's not true. But everybody has to pay their dues and we've had a lot of superstars in our league who have had to pay their dues when they put on the Team USA uniform and that's just a part of it. I enjoyed the hell out of my summer. I had so much fun. Being able to be there for those games was a magical thing to sit and watch those and something I'll remember forever. More than anything it gave me a newfound appreciation for the game of basketball."

And that's helpful coming off a season in which the Pacers reached the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2014. Haliburton's star ascended quickly over the last two seasons as he earned two All-Star nods and a third-team All-NBA selection in 2023-24, plus a five-year contract extension worth around $245 million. That time at the end of the bench was a reminder of how far he still has to go to get to the echelon Curry is in.

"Did it sting? Yeah," Haliburton said. "It sucked. It sucked that I didn't play, but we won, so it didn't suck that much because we won and I have a gold medal. Regardless, I'll probably tell my kids I played the whole game. It did suck because I'm a competitor and I want to compete, but just being on that team has raised my level of attention to detail. Is it a source of motivation? Of course."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Tyrese Haliburton's time on the Olympic bench was "an ego-check" but enjoyable