Who is Tyrese Haliburton? Pacers guard makes Olympic debut in Paris

Over the next two weeks, the world’s best basketball players will compete to lead their team to gold at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

One of them will be former Iowa State basketball player Tyrese Haliburton.

While the two-time NBA All-Star is no newcomer to the international stage, having been part of the United States Basketball Team’s 2023 FIBA World Cup team, the Summer Olympics in Paris will mark Haliburton’s Olympic debut. For some players, this means as much (if not more) than winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

PARIS OLYMPIC GAMES 2024: Follow USA TODAY’s full coverage here

Here’s what you need to know about Haliburton ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, including where he went to college:

Who is Tyrese Haliburton?

Tyrese Haliburton is a 6-foot-5 guard on the USA Basketball men’s national team for the 2024 Paris Olympics. He currently plays for the Indiana Pacers in the NBA.

Haliburton played collegiately at Iowa State from 2018 to 2020. The 2018 Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year’s first season in Ames, Iowa was a record, as he became one of four freshmen in college basketball to record 125 assists, 50 steals and 30 blocks in a season since 1992-93. He averaged 6.8 points and 3.6 assists that season, while posting an assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.5, which ranked second in the nation.

He followed up his freshman campaign with a breakout sophomore season, a season that ended with All-Big 12 honors and a spot on the Bob Cousy Award finalists list, given to the nation’s top point guard. He was selected with the 12th overall pick, a lottery pick, in the 2020 NBA draft.

Haliburton began his NBA career with the Sacramento Kings before being traded to the Pacers in 2022 as part of a six-player deal. In Indiana, Haliburton has emerged as one of the NBA’s premier prospects and point guards, as evidenced by his 752 assists, which led the NBA and set a single-season record for the Pacers last season.

He is a two-time NBA All-Star and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 2021.

Sign up for USA TODAY’s Olympic Newsletter: Your guide to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

Where is Tyrese Haliburton from?

The 6-foot-5 combo guard hails from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, which is just over an hour and a half drive from Milwaukee.

He attended Oshkosh North High School, where he was ranked among the top 170 players in the country and the fourth-ranked player in Wisconsin based on his 247sports Composite profile.

Haliburton often returns to Wisconsin during the NBA season, as the Pacers are in the same division as his hometown team, the Milwaukee Bucks. Indiana and Milwaukee even faced off in the first round of this year’s NBA playoffs.

And while the Pacers won the series, it was a mixed bag for Haliburton and his family, as a Bucks fan yelled a racial slur at his brother in the first game in Milwaukee.

“My family came out and showed love and it was nice to have them here,” Haliburton said. “My little brother — in the stands the other day — was called the N-word. And so it was important for us as a family to just address that. And that was important for us to talk about it because that just didn’t feel right to someone in our family.”

He added: “And my little brother handled it the right way. So yeah, I thought we did a good job with this environment. Obviously the conversations — it’s friendly during the regular season because I’m the hometown kid, but it’s a little different when you’re visiting in this environment. But it’s all part of it and we’re just trying to do it right. We’re just excited to get in front of our fans and play in front of a great crowd.”

When was Tyrese Haliburton called up?

Round: 1
Choice: 12
Provisional version: 2020

Haliburton was drafted by the Sacramento Kings with the 12th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. He was the first Iowa State player to be selected in the first round of the NBA Draft since Royce White was taken 16th overall to the Houston Rockets in 2012.

Has Tyrese Haliburton competed in the Olympics before?

No. The 2024 Paris Olympics will be Haliburton’s first Olympic Games as a member of USA Basketball. He is one of five members of the USA Basketball roster for Paris who will be making their Olympic debut.

“How could you not want to do this?” Haliburton told the Indianapolis Star about his role on the team for the 2024 Paris Olympics. “We look to our role models and guys that we look up to to represent USA Basketball. I knew I wanted to be a part of that. I wanted to be a part of that because people that I looked up to were a part of it and people that they looked up to were a part of it.

“I think that’s the great thing about American basketball. You’re right. There’s a gold standard. Especially in the United States, it’s gold or you fail, but that pressure is good for us.”

Tyrese Haliburton History of the US National Team

Teams: FIBA World Cup 2023 | Olympic Games Paris 2024

The 2024 Paris Olympics won’t be the first time Haliburton dons the red, white and blue for Team USA, as he was a member of USA Basketball’s FIBA World Cup team last year. In eight FIBA World Cup games — one of which ended in a disappointing and unprecedented fourth-place finish — Haliburton averaged 8.6 points, 5.6 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game while connecting on 51 percent of his shots.

He was also a member of the 2021 U.S. national team that trained with the U.S. men’s national team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the U.S. men’s under-19 national team that won gold at the 2019 FIBA Under-19 World Championship, as he entered his senior year at Iowa State.

Tyrese Haliburton stats

Below is a summary of Haliburton’s NBA career statistics:

Career: 4,483 total points, 2,274 total assists, 960 total rebounds, 385 total steals, 150 total blocks, 17.2 points per game, 8.7 assists per game, 3.7 rebounds per game, 1.5 steals per game, 47.8% shooting (39.3% from beyond the three-point line)
2023-24 (Indiana Pacers): 20.1 ppg, 10.9 apg, 3.9 rpg and 47.7% shooting (36.4% from beyond the arc)
2022-23 (Indiana Pacers): 20.7 ppg, 10.4 apg, 3.7 rpg and 49.0% shooting (40.0% from beyond the arc)
2021-22 (Indiana Pacers): 17.5 ppg, 9.6 apg, 4.3 rpg and 50.2% shooting (41.6% from beyond the three-point line)
2021-22 (Sacramento Kings): 14.3 ppg, 7.4 apg, 3.9 rpg and 45.7% shooting (41.6% from beyond the arc)
2020-21 (Sacramento Kings): 13.0 ppg, 5.3 apg, 2.3 rpg and 47.2% shooting (40.9% from beyond the arc)