Tyrese Haliburton excited about Olympic opportunity with Team USA, hopes to get back to winning

Haliburton played for Team USA last summer

Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton speaks with media members on a zoom call discussing his upcoming Team USA experience. (Mandatory Photo Credit: Tony East) /

INDIANAPOLIS — Tyrese Haliburton feels great. He has recovered from his hamstring injury suffered in the Eastern Conference Finals. and he's been running full speed for weeks. Of late, he's been doing two-a-days to get his health where it needs to be.

That's because he's about to start playing with USA Basketball ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Haliburton is on the 12-man roster, and he's confident that he is healthy enough to play in the event. The Pacers will have a performance staff member with Haliburton while he's with the squad to maximize his health.

For Haliburton, this is a dream come true. He's wanted to be an Olympian his whole life and recalls wearing Team USA jerseys often growing up. "How can you not want to do this?" he said on a conference call with reporters last week. "We watch our role models and guys we look up to represent USA Basketball. I wanted to be a part of that."

This year is a melding of eras for the red, white, and blue. Bam Adebayo, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday, and Jayson Tatum are all back from the last Olympics. LeBron James, who has two gold medals, is also a part of the squad.

Haliburton expects to get some smack talk from Tatum and Holiday, who knocked him out of the postseason. But he's still excited to be on the squad and represent the next generation of USA Basketball. "I just expect them to be who they are. Two of the greatest players to ever touch a basketball," the Pacers guard said of James and Stephen Curry. "I'm excited to be around them, pick their brains."

Haliburton, 24, is the second youngest player on the team — only Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards (22) is younger. Those two were members of the 2023 Team USA roster that participated in the FIBA Men's Basketball World Cup. They did well enough to qualify for the Olympic Games, but they didn't take home any hardware as they finished fourth overall.

He was disappointed to leave the event with nothing and learned a ton about playing for Team USA along the way. "You're going to get every team's best shot," Haliburton said. He averaged 8.6 points and 5.6 assists per game during the World Cup.

In tournaments like this, Indiana's star came to realize that all it takes is one hot shooting game from an opponent to lose. Team USA can't afford that in Paris for the Olympics. They need to be at their best every night, or they could get beat. Team USA had a few close calls in the 2021 games, including a loss during Group Play to France.

"Playing for USA, everybody wants to beat you," Haliburton said. He saw it firsthand in the World Cup during losses to Germany and Canada.

This year, his team is much more talented, and he's happy about being in Paris for much of the summer. His role on the team, he believes, is just to facilitate. Passing is by far Haliburton's best skill. He recalled joking with Grant Hill, the managing director of the USA Basketball Men's National Team, about playing like Jason Kidd and seeing how long he could go without shooting the ball.

Most importantly, Haliburton will do whatever it takes to win. He doesn't want to go home without a medal this time — he wants to continue the United States typical tradition of taking home the gold in the Olympics. It's almost an expectation, something the Iowa State product noted.

"I'm excited. obviously last year, we didn't do what we wanted to do, and that was frustrating," he said of the World Cup. "Any time you represent USA basketball, the expectation is to win. And we weren't able to do that." He added that the expectation will certainly return for the Olympics despite the team's shortcomings last summer.

And for Haliburton specifically, it would mean something to emerge victorious. He's joked about being tired of being a loser between his lack of championships in high school, college, and the NBA. He will hope to change that in the Olympics.

"More than anything." he said of how badly he wants to take home a gold medal. Training camp begins this weekend. Pacers assistant coach Jim Boylen will be there, too.

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