Tyrese Haliburton was relegated to a bench role throughout the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Pacers guard was in sublime form throughout the season, earning an All-Star selection while making a deep playoff run. But that wasn’t enough for him to be a nailed-on starter in a team full of heavyweights in the Team USA colors. However, Haliburton isn’t complaining.

On the contrary, he’s shown nothing but gratitude for the opportunity of a lifetime to be a part of the Avengers Team. To put the icing on top, he’s now a gold medal winner. The incentive was always there to share the court with some of the NBA’s all-time greats LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry. But his love for them goes beyond the few months spent together in the Team USA camp.

Tyrese Haliburton took to social media to reveal the extent of admiration for LeBron and KD. He posted a series of pictures with the caption, “My mom sent me these pics this morning, life crazy lol,” featuring himself and LeBron. In another post, captioned, “This too lol,” Haliburton is featuring with KD.

In the first set of pictures, Haliburton is seen wearing an Eastern Conference All-Star jersey from Bron’s Cavaliers days. There is also a picture of him wearing the green St. Vincent-St. Mary High School’s number 23 jersey from 2003, the same uniform donned by LeBron. The last picture is of him and LeBron holding their gold medals together, showing a full-circle journey for the young swingman.

LeBron took notice of the social media activity of his young teammate and reacted to it. In a X post, the 39-year-old wrote, “Haha! Crazy bro!!! WOW!!” followed by multiple emojis. The other two pictures show Haliburton in a Team USA kit, sporting KD’s number 5. There’s also a snap of him getting some words of advice from KD. Haliburton was a part of the Team USA that lost to Germany in the 2023 FIBA World Championship. He was heavily involved in that campaign, playing eight games and averaging 8.6 points, 3.0 RPG, 5.6 APG while shooting 51% from the field and 17-36 3FG. During the Olympics, he saw significantly fewer minutes on the court but wasn’t shy of making fun at his own expense.

Tyrese Haliburton pokes fun at his Olympic campaign

A major talking point during Team USA’s Olympic adventure was the benching of Jayson Tatum. The Celtics ace was fresh from an NBA championship win, but that became a non-factor in Steve Kerr‘s team selection. Just like him, Tyrese Haliburton saw most of the games pass by and when the opportunity came, he averaged 2.0 points, and 2.8 rebounds. The 24-year-old only featured in 4 games with an average time of 14.8 minutes on the hardwood.

However, despite the minor contribution, Haliburton was all smiles with the gold medal he earned alongside his idols. To poke fun at himself, the Pacers guard even posted, “When you ain’t do nun on the group project and still get an A,” with a picture flaunting his medal.

The USA team composition with a stacked roster was always a challenge which was made clear by Kerr before the tournament. “It’s a good problem to have, but I think I’m guessing that all 12 players on this roster will be in the Hall of Fame someday, so how do you pick five out of 12?” Kerr said during the training camp.

“The idea is you find combinations that click and you find two-way lineups that can be effective on both ends, so our big job in Las Vegas is to find five-man combinations that fit and to just ask all 12 guys to fully commit to the goal of winning a gold medal, no matter what it looks like, no matter who’s playing,” Kerr further added. Well, Tyrese Haliburton lived by the coach’s message and played his part in a journey that he will cherish for a lifetime.

Before leaving, do watch the Dual Threat Show hosted by BG12 where Bulldogs’ Asia Avinger details her experience with Kobe Bryant, her WNBA ROTY picks, and more in the video below.