Winning changed the conversation. Tyrese Haliburton noticed how quickly it shifted. While the Indiana Pacers were forcing networks to talk basketball during their 2025 playoff run, the focus did not stay there for long. Instead, a familiar debate took over studio segments and panel discussions. Haliburton heard it. He remembered it. And now, months later, he finally addressed it directly.

Tyrese Haliburton pushed back against what he called a “lame a**” media narrative that followed him and the Pacers throughout their run to the NBA Finals. Although he never mentioned Stephen A. Smith by name, the target of his frustration was unmistakable.

Haliburton made the comments during a recent episode of Mind the Game, where he appeared alongside LeBron James. Reflecting on the Pacers’ playoff surge last spring, he explained how winning forced national coverage to pivot, even if only briefly, toward on-court substance.

“It’s like the lame a** conversation the whole playoffs because us winning was forcing the networks to have to talk about basketball,” Haliburton said. However, that window did not last. “They quickly shifted it to how can we make this conversation, this lame a** conversation, be about is Tyrese Haliburton a superstar? That was just so lazy to me.”

The frustration was not about criticism. It was about priorities. Haliburton emphasized that meaningful basketball discussions were available and being ignored.

“If y’all wanted to actually talk hoop and what our team was doing, how we’re applying more full-court pressure, how we’re proving you don’t have to slow down in the playoffs to succeed, all those things just didn’t get talked about.”

The narrative Haliburton referenced did not appear out of thin air. It became national conversation on May 22, 2025, following his buzzer-beater in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

That same night on First Take, Stephen A. Smith openly rejected the idea that Haliburton belonged in the NBA’s superstar tier. “Superstar status is reserved for the select few, and I don’t view him that way,” Smith said.

Smith clarified that he admired Haliburton and even wanted the Knicks to draft him previously. Still, he argued that hitting clutch shots alone did not elevate a player into the same category as figures like LeBron James or Stephen Curry.

That framing became the dominant talking point. Despite Indiana reaching its first NBA Finals since 2000 and pushing the Oklahoma City Thunder to a Game 7, the conversation repeatedly returned to labels rather than tactics, execution, or team identity.

That is the debate Haliburton was responding to.

Why Haliburton sees it as “lazy” coverage

From Haliburton’s perspective, the issue was not whether the word “superstar” applied to him. It was how quickly media discussion abandoned basketball substance in favor of simplified rankings.

Indiana’s playoff run offered plenty to analyze. The Pacers played faster in the postseason than most contenders. They applied consistent full-court pressure. They refused to slow the pace even late in series. Haliburton also spoke about his own internal balancing act as a lead guard.

“Trying to find that balance between being that scorer and being that passer is a fight I go through every game,” he explained.

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Instead of exploring that evolution, the discourse narrowed.

Haliburton’s frustration reflected a broader reality. When teams force analysts into basketball conversations through winning, those discussions often revert to personality-based debates once the novelty wears off.

Haliburton’s comments fit into a wider trend. More players are using podcasts and long-form platforms to challenge how their games are discussed. From Kevin Durant to Ja Morant, stars have increasingly criticized surface-level analysis that prioritizes debate segments over scheme, pace, and decision-making.

The rise of player-driven media has amplified that pushback. Rather than responding through postgame soundbites, players now revisit old narratives with clarity and distance. Haliburton did exactly that here. He did not lash out in the moment. He waited, then explained why the framing bothered him.

This was not personal beef. It was a critique of process.

Context of the season and where Haliburton stands now

The backdrop makes the comments more revealing. Haliburton is currently sidelined after tearing his Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals against the Thunder. Indiana lost that game, but not the respect earned during the run.

Last season, Haliburton averaged 18.6 points, 9.2 assists, and 3.5 rebounds while shooting 47 percent from the field and 38.8 percent from three across 73 regular-season games. In the playoffs, he delivered repeatedly in high-leverage moments, including the shot that ignited the “superstar” discourse in the first place.

Now deep into recovery, Haliburton shared that he is back to playing controlled full-court basketball in practice settings. “I feel really good. I just started playing 3-on-3 and 4-on-4,” he said. He also acknowledged adding roughly 30 pounds during rehab, weight he expects to shed as he ramps up training.

Haliburton never called out Stephen A. Smith by name. He did not need to. The timeline, the wording, and the origin of the debate make the connection clear.

More importantly, the message was not about validation. It was about substance. Haliburton’s critique highlighted a growing disconnect between how players experience winning basketball and how it is often discussed publicly.

As his platform grows and Indiana remains relevant, those tensions are unlikely to disappear. When Tyrese Haliburton returns to the court, the labels will resurface. What he made clear on February 3 is that he would rather force the conversation back to the game itself.