Perhaps Bucks guard Damian Lillard isn’t alone with his disdain for Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton.
The Pacers guard is considered the most overrated player in the NBA, according to a poll of anonymous players by The Athletic, receiving 14.4 percent of votes from 90 players.
Thirteen players voting for Haliburton is up dramatically from the 3.7 percent of votes he garnered last year.
He is ahead of Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert, who received 10 percent of the vote (nine votes) while Hawks lightning rod Trae Young garnered 8.9 percent of the votes from league players.
The Pacers’ star guard has had run-ins in the past with other stars, notably the Knicks roster in the playoffs last season had a constant back-and-forth with Haliburton, and Lillard is known to have a heated rivalry with him.
Still, Haliburton impressively led the Pacers to an Eastern Conference finals berth, where the Celtics swept them.
Indiana defeated the Bucks in six games in the first round of last year’s playoffs and also advanced past a depleted Knicks team in seven.
Haliburton regressed a bit this year statistically, averaging 18.6 points per game, down a bit from 20.1 the year prior.
While his field-goal percentage has remained nearly unchanged, he averaged 9.2 assists per game, down significantly from 10.9 last season.
Gobert, a four-time Defensive Player of the Year award winner, had some particularly interesting takes from former players.
“I don’t (understand) the Defensive Player of the Year stuff when you don’t guard the people who have the ball most of the time, the ones who are making most of the decisions,” a player who chose the Frenchman for most overrated told The Athletic. “I just don’t see it, nor does he strike any fear in me in my heart as a defender.”
