Tyrese Haliburton tried to recruit 'every guy' from Team USA to join him on the Pacers

Tyrese Haliburton tried to recruit ‘every guy’ from Team USA to join him on the Pacers

Posted by Admin August 30, 2024 NBA

‘I recruited every guy on that team, basically,’ Haliburton said.

OSHKOSH – Could another NBA super team be on the horizon?

If a certain All-Star guard has his way, it’ll be forming in Indiana.

Tyrese Haliburton wasn’t just taking in the sights of Paris on his downtime at the Olympics, having jokingly admitted he tried to get each Team USA player to join him on the Pacers team.

“I recruited every guy on that team basically,” he laughed. “Anyone that wants to come join us in Indiana, I’m all for it.”

Haliburton made the comments while addressing the media following a recent speaking engagement as part of a return trip to his hometown of Oshkosh.

And while his sentiments may have been said in jest, there’s definitely no joke about Team USA’s growing influence on NBA rosters.

Several pundits believe it’s the worst-kept secret that stars talk about teaming up while putting on the red, white and blue at international competitions.

The 2010-2014 “Heatles” came about after LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were on the same 2006 FIBA World Championship and 2008 Olympic squads.

Kevin Durant played with Steph Curry (2010 FIBA World Championship) and Andre Iguodala (2010 FIBA World Championship, 2012 Olympics) before joining them on the Warriors as a free agent in 2016.

And they’re not the only Team USA teammates of KD’s who eventually became his NBA running mates, considering he played with both Kyrie Irving (2016 Olympics) and Devin Booker (2021 Olympics) on separate Olympic teams.

These instances could all be merely coincidental or serve as evidence of the recruiting culture associated with Team USA basketball.

“There will probably something that comes out of it,” said Haliburton when asked if any stars from the most recent gold medal-winning team plan to join forces. “I definitely got recruited, but I’m not going anywhere.”

Arguably one of the best basketball rosters assembled, the Paris Olympic squad featured future first-ballot Hall of Famers in LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant alongside former MVP Joel Embiid and All-NBA selections Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards and Devin Booker.

It resulted in Haliburton, who was an All-NBA third-team selection himself, appearing in just three of Team USA’s six games while averaging 8.8 minutes per contest.

Yet, the 24-year-old believed the experience was invaluable, especially considering he got to engage some of the sport’s all-time greats.

“The biggest thing I took from them is just how serious they are about their routines,” Haliburton explained. “Just seeing how routine they are, just how they treat their bodies and how they’re able to do what they do at such a high level at their age.”

And it goes beyond just basketball.

Haliburton seemed to suggest the reason stars end up playing together is because of the connections they make off the floor more than the ones on it.

“It’s fun being around those guys and you create lifelong relationships and lifelong friendships,” Haliburton said.

“Me and Steph were texting the other day and that’s unbelievable for me because that’s a guy I looked up to when I was in middle school.

“To have that as a real relationship now I think is really cool,” he said.

Born and raised in Oshkosh, Haliburton came home to conduct a ProCamps basketball clinic Aug. 28 at his alma mater, Oshkosh North High School, after serving as the keynote speaker at the Oshkosh Area School District’s staff convocation. He said the camp could just be the start of bigger things to come in terms of giveback opportunities in Oshkosh.

Contact Justin Marville at jmarville@gannett.com.