Already an NBA All-Star, Tyrese Haliburton is hungry for more

DALLAS — In only his third season, Tyrese Haliburton already is an NBA All-Star, earning a spot in the 2023 contest as an Eastern Conference reserve.

But the former Iowa State standout — just the second Cyclone to become an NBA All-Star, joining Jeff Hornacek — viewed his first appearance in the midseason classic as a launching point for bigger and better things in his career.

“It was amazing,” Haliburton, 23, said. “Just being in the locker room with the guys, getting to be around the guys and understanding that I’m one of them now, that realization was surreal for me.

“Just to be there was a lot of fun and it makes me hungry to want to continue to be there on an annual basis.”

The affable floor general who played two seasons in Ames is just over a year removed from being traded from Sacramento, which drafted him 12th overall in the 2020 NBA Draft, to Indiana, which acquired him in a blockbuster deal on Feb. 8, 2022.

In his first year-plus as a Pacer, he quickly bonded with his new teammates and immediately felt part of the Indiana organization. That only reinforced his belief that being traded so early in his career was a big positive.

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“Yeah, for sure. Coming here has been awesome,” Haliburton said. “The people have been amazing to me and my family. It’s a fresh start for me. From the minute I got here, the organization shared their admiration for my game and excitement to have me in the organization, so it’s worked really well.”

In 56 games this season, all starts, he averaged 20.7 points, 10.4 assists (second in the NBA) and 3.7 rebounds.

Not only has he adjusted well to his new surroundings and to a new group of teammates, but Haliburton also quickly bonded with second-year Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle, a veteran NBA boss who led Dallas to the 2011 NBA title.

“I’ve loved it,” Haliburton said of playing for Carlisle. “We’ve had a great relationship from the minute I got here. We continue to have a great relationship.

“My favorite part is just the honesty in our relationship. I can go at him, he can come at me. We can have conversations, get past those, and move on to the next thing. He’s got a lot of trust in me as a player. That means a lot.”

As a rookie with the Kings, he finished third in voting for 2021 NBA Rookie of the Year and earned a spot on the NBA All-Rookie first team. And as someone who spent his first 18 months in the NBA in the Western Conference but now plays in the East, he said he hasn’t really noticed any major differences.

“No, I wouldn’t say there’s anything crazy. Living in the eastern time zone, I don’t like as much as when I lived in the Pacific time zone, but nothing really different other than that,” Haliburton said with a huge smile.

Of course, playing in Indiana conjures up the fond memories he has of his two seasons at ISU, which he concluded by averaging 15.2 points, 6.5 assists, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game as a sophomore in 2019-2020, earning a spot on the all-Big 12 Conference’s second team.

“It’s my everything. I loved being at Iowa State,” Haliburton said. “I didn’t want to leave when I had to. Obviously, you got to take advantage of your stock, and things like that, becoming a professional athlete and this is everybody’s dream.

“But I loved my time at Iowa State, met friends that I’ll have the rest of my life, relationships I have for life. My dog’s name was Ames. It’s everything for me.”

And anytime he sees fellow ex-Cyclones like Monte Morris with Washington or Georges Niang with Philadelphia representing ISU well in the NBA, it reminds him of what a unique fraternity he is part of.

“Yeah, I think it’s really cool,” Haliburton said. “When you get recruited to a school like Iowa State, you look at the wall. They have the NBA Wall of Fame or whatever and there’s a lot of great guys who have paved the way for us to be here now.

“I hope years from now there’s more guys from Iowa State who are able to do even bigger and better things in the NBA.”

Stephen Hunt is a freelance writer based in Frisco, Texas