Tyrese Haliburton led the Indiana Pacers past the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs for the second consecutive year.
It was a month after Haliburton was voted 'most overrated' in The Athletic's anonymous player poll . Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade criticized the ranking on his podcast.
"Wasn't he No. 1 most overrated ranked by the players? When I looked at it I said this is what's wrong with our game," Wade said. "If he's not someone who can score 30 [points per game], you don't look at him as an All-Star," Wade, a 13-time All-Star and 2008-09 scoring champion, said. "But this is a guy who, when you look at [the Pacers] and see how that team runs and how it goes, they go as he go."
Haliburton, a two-time All-Star who averaged about 18 points, 12 assists and 6.4 rebounds in the series against the Bucks, led the Pacers to the Eastern Conference Finals last season before losing at the hands of the eventual champion Boston Celtics.
"His All-Star status looks different," Wade said. "And it has a different imprint on Indiana, but everyone wants it to look a certain way. And so you overrate it because it doesn't look this way."
Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at toledoalexander22@gmail.com. Twitter: @tropicalblanket
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