Stephen A Smith Still Refuses to Call Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton a 'Superstar'

But that was in April. It is now June, and Haliburton has helped the Indiana Pacers through a second successful playoff run after making it to the Eastern Conference Finals last season.

The Pacers are one win away from their first NBA title in franchise history, and Haliburton has been a major component to their success. The two-time NBA All-Star guard also played through a strained calf during Game 6 and put up 14 points in 23 minutes.

However, his performance in the playoffs still has not impressed ESPN’s Stephen Smith. On ESPN’s First Take show, Smith refused to call Haliburton a “superstar”.

“What we're not going to do is call him a superstar,” Smith said. “We're not going to do that, okay? Because that's not what he is in the eyes of most basketball aficionados.”

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Although Smith does not think Haliburton has reached superstar status, he praised the 25-year-old’s ability to come through in big moments for the Pacers.

“He's a damn good player. He's young, he's got a lot of promise, the clutch gene. You can't take that away from him,” Smith said.

Haliburton has had several clutch moments in each round of the 2025 playoffs, hitting four game-winning or game-tying shots throughout the playoffs.

Most recently, he hit a game-winning jumper with less than a minute on the clock in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

“When you consider the fact that coming into the Finals, or after Game 1 of the NBA Finals, in 15 seconds or less with the game tied or being able to win the game on the line, he was 5-for-5 from the field. The rest of the league was 4-for-26,” Stephen said. “That's who this brother is in terms of clutch you give him credit where credit is due.”

With just the championship game remaining, Haliburton has a chance to silence any doubters about his talents and join the exclusive list of NBA champions.

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