Tyrese Haliburton certainly left his mark on the league during last season's playoffs—but it's a controversial nickname he picked up that still has the NBA star talking.
Haliburton was the guest on Logan Paul's Impaulsive podcast this week when he talked about everything from his insane playoff run and taking the Indiana Pacers to the NBA Finals to his devastating Game 7 injury.
Impaulsive co-host Mike Majlak also asked Haliburton about the controversial "The Haliban" nickname Haliburton picked up during the Pacers' Eastern Conference Finals series with the New York Knicks.
Smiling, Haliburton said, "Obviously the Taliban is a terrible group of people and it’s unfortunate that on social media it has become the thing. Obviously I can never publicly acknowledge it, or like, respond. But people come in my Twitch chat and just spam that."
Paul then asked, "They call you the Haliban because you’re a terrorist on the court? That’s the thing?"
Haliburton replied, "Yes, but we were in New York, unfortunately." Majlak then joked, "And he was dropping bombs, bro. Left and right, he was dude."
After taking a pause, Paul said, "You may be taking the heel role a little too far bro."
Haliburton responded, "I do not condone that. At all. I can tell people don’t call me that but that doesn’t stop. This is probably the only time I’ve ever acknowledged it and only time I’ll ever acknowledge it."
Haliburton and the Pacers took down the Knicks 4-2 in the ECF series. At one point in the series, after hitting a clutch shot, Haliburton wrapped his hands around his neck in an ode to Reggie Miller's famous choking taunt he used against the Knicks back in 1994.
Unfortunately, Haliburton suffered a torn Achilles tendon during the NBA Finals series against the Oklahoma City Thunder—and says it'll take about 15 months to fully recover.