Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton is an incredible talent on the court but he isn’t exactly known for his dominant athleticism.
Haliburton, who started in the backcourt for the Eastern Conference in the 2024 NBA All-Star Game, is having a remarkable season. While it includes crazy stats and absurd 3-pointers, he doesn’t exactly have a highlight reel of dunks.
This was the first dunk he dunked in more than a month, per Stathead, and one of his only games with multiple dunks in his professional career.
So when he threw down multiple dunks during a big win for the Pacers against the Nets on Monday night, he knew he needed to talk about it with some of his biggest critics.
"There's been a lot of talk in our locker room about my athletic ability as of late. Buddy left and everybody just felt the need to continue on with that."
Tyrese Haliburton had to call Buddy Hield after his postgame presser to let him know about his two dunks tonight 😂 pic.twitter.com/tUUJpmQA43
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) April 2, 2024
The first person that he thought to tell was his longtime teammate Buddy Hield.
Haliburton and Hield played together on the Kings and then were traded alongside one another to the Pacers. Hield was dealt to the 76ers at the trade deadline this season, which means this is the first time that the two are not on the same NBA team.
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But they still have a strong relationship considering Haliburton’s immediate instinct was to call Hield and tell him just how proud he was of himself for throwing down multiple dunks on Monday.
Haliburton’s teammate Obi Toppin, a former NBA dunk contest champion, was far less impressed.