Tyrese Haliburton addresses dealing with ‘overrated’ label ahead of debut NBA Finals: “I take it as an indictment”

Two months ago, Tyrese Haliburton was voted the “most overrated” player in the NBA by an unidentified group of peers. This dubious title took on a life of its own, but for his part, the Indiana Pacers star decided to deal with it through the power of perspective.

In an NBA TV interview, reporter Stephanie Ready brought up this infamous vote with Haliburton, who went on to explain how it affected him and his teammates as they competed in the 2025 playoffs.

“We use all external motivation. It all helps,” Haliburton told Ready. “I take that as an indictment against me as a player. I think our whole group did.”

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Halburton, who has reached the NBA Finals in just his third full season in Indiana, added that "overrated" label actually galvanized the Pacers.

"I think that's the cool part, how close we are," he said. "When people are calling me overrated, my teammates are looking at me like, 'Hey, that's our guy.' I think we all just rallied around that...the external motivation we needed at the right time."

The results of the "most overrated player" poll were published in The Athletic on April 22. On that same day, Haliburton put on a double-double performance with 21 points and 12 assists as the Pacers seized a 2-0 lead over the Milwaukee Bucks in their first-round series.

While the Pacers played with tremendous motivation en route to capturing the Eastern Conference title, Haliburton's most resounding response to the "overrated" tag came in Game 5 against the Bucks when he got a layup to go against Giannis Antetokounmpo's defense with 1.3 seconds to go.

Shortly after the series-clinching Game 5 victory, Haliburton tweeted a short but vengeful message.

Tyrese Haliburton

@TyHaliburton22

Overrate THAT

This "indictment" may very well follow him as the NBA Finals progresses, but in all likelihood, Haliburton will once again use the doubts as extra fuel against the Western Conference champions OKC Thunder.

Tyrese Haliburton retweets supportive post from sports-entertainment company

While the anonymous players in the April poll were less than flattering in their assessment of Haliburton, one major entertainment company recently made a gesture in support of Haliburton's team.

The two-time All-Star retweeted a picture posted by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) showing commentator Michael Cole flexing his guns in a no. 9 Pacers jersey.

Cole donning the no. 9 — which belongs to Haliburton's backup TJ McConnell on the Indiana roster — is likely a reciprocation of the goodwill that the Pacers star has shown towards WWE. Haliburton has shown up on WWE programming multiple times over the past several months, even confronting his New York Knicks nemesis Jalen Brunson at Madison Square Garden last June.

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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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