“He’s the face of the NBA” – Paul George comments on Stephen A. Smith’s take about Tyrese Haliburton deserving superstar label

Even after being labelled “overrated” by some of his NBA peers, Tyrese Haliburton has continued to take the league by storm. Coming up big in the playoffs for the Indiana Pacers — who are within arm’s reach of the NBA Finals — Haliburton has defied the naysayers by emerging as one of the NBA’s most lethal competitors, particularly in the clutch.

One NBA player who has voiced out support rather than criticism of Haliburton is Paul George, who gave a fearless take on a recent episode of “Podcast P.”

“He’s the face of the NBA. He is the number one option,” George said. “He’s a set-up point [guard] first, but he can be your late game scorer…I wanna see him continue to do this, which I know he will.”

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George also reacted to Stephen A. Smith's assertion that Haliburton was not a "superstar." According to the 76ers forward, Haliburton does have some more work to do before earning that label.

"If you show that you can do it on a night in, night out basis, now with the target on your back, that's when you're bona fide," George added.

To Haliburton's credit, he leads all players in the postseason with 9.8 assists per game. He also averages 19.4 points per game on 46.7% shooting from the field.

If Haliburton leads the Pacers to the Finals and goes on to win a championship, he'd be able to build an exceptionally strong case to claim the "superstar" tag — or, perhaps, even the title of "face of the NBA," as George puts it.

Tyrese Haliburton makes NBA history in massive Game 4 win

One of the ways that Haliburton is skyrocketing towards the "superstar" distinction is by getting extraordinary stats. This was exactly what he did during the Pacers' pivotal Game 4 victory over the Knicks.

That night, he became the first NBA player to get a 30/15/10 stat line without any turnovers in a playoff game.

As impressive as Haliburton's individual numbers were, his impact on winning was even more significant as he helped the Pacers gain a formidable 3-1 series lead on that evening.

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About the author

Simoun Victor Redoblado

Simoun Victor Redoblado is an NBA and WNBA journalist at Sportskeeda with over 12 years of experience writing for publications such as Collider, ALL-STAR Magazine, and Sir Charles in Charge.

Simoun has a bachelor's degree in Secondary Education, Major in English and Minor in journalism. Thanks to the journalism courses that he took, Simoun understood the fundamentals of journalistic storytelling in the context of sports writing.

Passionate for the UP Fighting Maroons, Simoun is a fan of the NBA, PBA, UAAP, and FIBA.
His childhood team was the Chicago Bulls and Simoun was a longtime supporter of the Houston Rockets because his friends would say he looked like Yao Ming.

Simoun loves the systematic, tactical movement of the ball and the players, the stories behind each individual competing on the hardcourt and most of all, how basketball is a sport for life and all its struggles and lessons.

A father of two, Simoun spends his free time with his kids.

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