There is a major theme of the 2026-27 season, and it’s not the comebacks of Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Jimmy Butler, and Tyrese Haliburton. It’s the apology spree at ESPN. In the pre-holiday spirit of apology, Kendrick Perkins did right by Tyrese Haliburton. After LeBron James put the league on notice, Perk issued an explicit public apology to a player he grossly underestimated.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
When the NBA Today panel reacted to LeBron James’ comments on Mind the Game that Haliburton “can move the needle” for Indiana, Perkins took the opportunity to acknowledge that he misjudged the All-Star point guard after previously labeling him overrated. When Malika Andrews asked whether he agreed with James, Perkins backpedaled on his past stance.
“Tyrese Haliburton, I’m sorry. I was one of them that called him overrated two years ago, and I would like to issue a public apology because, young man, you are one of them,” Perkins stated on air.
He went a step ahead and put Hali among the elite franchise stars in the entire league.
“When we start to talk about Luka [Doncic] and Jalen Brunson and these top dogs around the league, we have to mention this young man. He led the team to the NBA Finals. This man is one of the best leaders in the game. He’s a throwback guard, meaning that old traditional point guard that still could get buckets.
“No one could question him in the clutch because he’s proven that on the big stage go on his run to the NBA Finals. Three out of the four rounds, they were heavy underdogs. So my question to y’all is is that we know who this young man is. Can this team duplicate what they did two years ago?”
Perkins’ fellow panelists, Chiney Ogwumike and Bobby Marks, agreed. The WNBA star underscored Haliburton’s fiercely competitive edge beneath his lighthearted demeanor.
“Don’t let that smile and the bouncy disposition fool you. Tyrese Haliburton is a killer. He goes out there and he wants to take and disrespect your game,” Ogwumike noted, adding that the New York Knicks experienced that intensity firsthand during Indiana’s deep playoff runs.
“The fact that he is coming into the season motivated is really special because the Pacers… he did so leading a team that was shattering all of the offensive records we have ever seen before. And it looks like he wants to be better and that rubs off. That energy is contagious,” Ogwumike added,
Perkins didn’t exactly drop the ‘overrated’ label in the past. But he did agree with the anonymous player poll published by The Athletic during the 2024–25 season, in which 14.4% of surveyed NBA peers voted Haliburton as the “most overrated player in the NBA.” Perk was highly critical of the guard’s leadership at that time.
Rather than wilting under the label, Haliburton revealed in an interview with Pat McAfee that he and his Indiana teammates weaponized the narrative as collective motivation throughout their historic postseason march that very season.
That campaign culminated in Indiana’s improbable run to the 2025 NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Perk complemented that postseason surge by praising Haliburton’s clutch game and leadership, and Indiana reminded him right back that they haven’t forgotten his past dismissal of their franchise star.
Haliburton delivered multiple clutch postseason moments, including a memorable game-winning shot in Game 1 of the Finals. The spectacular campaign culminated heartbreakingly when Haliburton suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in the first quarter of Game 7.
The injury forced Haliburton to miss the entire 2025–26 NBA season during a grueling year-long rehabilitation process. Without their primary offensive engine, the Pacers’ offensive rating cratered from 9th in 2025 to 28th in the league last season. The Pacers’ standing fell from 4th in the 2024–25 season to 14th in the 2025–26 season.
Now fully healthy for the 2026–27 campaign, Haliburton made his triumphant return to the floor this month and showed the same flashes of heroics from the 2025 Finals. He returned to Paycom Center for the first time since he tore his Achilles. It didn’t look like any rust needed shaking off when he exploded for 24 points in just 18 minutes in the Pacers’ OT 114-112 loss.
But the applause the OKC crowd gave their one-time nemesis signaled to analysts like Perkins, Ogwumike, and Bobby Marks that the Pacers are once again legitimate contenders in the Eastern Conference.
With center Ivica Zubac anchoring the paint alongside Pascal Siakam and Haliburton conducting one of the league’s most lethal uptempo schemes, Indiana enters the new season no longer capable of flying under the radar.