Tyrese Haliburton plays basketball with a joy in his heart that comes from truly understanding that his job is silly as hell.

The NBA needs that now more than ever. The league is a self-serious place, devoid of whimsy. It’s filled with people that think making billions of dollars turns the sport into more than sweaty people putting a ball in a hoop.

Don’t get it twisted: basketball is incredible. Watch any game on any given court on any given day and you’ll see something cool. Watching people like Victor Wembanyama and Amen Thompson just do stuff remains a great way to spend your time.

But so is watching Haliburton. The man skips down the court. Skips.

And that’ll save the NBA.

The NBA needs whimsy

The NBA is a show. For too long, the league has been filled with:

• Deeply serious guys who play the game as a sacred act.

• People who just do the job.

• People who happen to be incredible players and are here for the lifestyle.

• Steph Curry, the greatest show in the league.

Steph also has whimsy. His no-look 3 is stunning. The night-night is a primo taunt. Watching him nail 3 after 3 after 3, bringing entire stadia roaring to their feet in collective, giddy, shouting triumph is transformative.

But Steph is the Skyfucker, destroyer of worlds. Haliburton is a little stinker who happens to be an amazing basketball player.

This stinker sinks buckets

It helps that Haliburton is on an all-time run in the 2025 playoffs. He and the Indiana Pacers have strung together a series of comebacks so vicious and delightful that the ghost of George Carlin is impressed.

Let’s use ESPN’s win probabilities as a quick shorthand for this hectic stretch:

• Round one, game five against the Buck: the Pacers had a 0.5% chance of winning with 40 seconds left in the game. The Pacers won.

• Round two, game two against the Cavs: 1.9% chance of winning with 0:06 left in the third quarter. The Pacers won.

• Conference finals, game one against the Knicks: 0.2% chance of winning with 3:44 left in the fourth quarter. The Pacers would tie the game and, yup, go on to win in overtime.

• The Finals, game one against the Thunder: 2.1% of winning with 9:42 left in the game. The Pacers won.

Absurd comebacks. Riveting television. No matter the lead held by their opponents, the Pacers – and Tyrese Haliburton – felt as inevitable as a Thanos reference the second someone says “inevitable”.

Here’s a cheeky stat from Keerthika Uthayakumar on Bluesky:

Tyrese Haliburton is 6-for-7 (85.7%) when taking a shot to tie or take the lead in the final 90 seconds of the 4th or OT this playoffs. That’s the most such shots in a single postseason since 1997.

The subplot: what goofy shit would Haliburton do this time?

Hali has fun

Okay, basketball lore time.

Reggie Miller spent his entire 18-year NBA career on the Indiana Pacers. During a playoff game against the New York Knicks in 1994, he hit ‘em with the choke taunt.

Reggie Miller hits the choke taunt (1994).

This is, of course, iconic.

After the Pacers eliminated the Knicks in the 2024 playoffs, Haliburton wore a hoodie with Miller’s choke taunt. I mean, why not?

Remember that conference finals game wherein the Pacers had 0.2% chance of winning against the Knicks with 3:44 left in the fourth quarter? Haliburton hit a 2 pointer to tie the game. In the moment, he – and everyone else in the world – thought it was a 3 to win.

So he hit ‘em with the choke.

Here’s the difference though: Reggie looked cool doing it.

Reggie, left, looking cool, calm and collection. Haliburton, right, looking like a fish trying to swallow an ostrich egg.

Haliburton looks like a goober.

Reggie was on the call for the game. He pointed to Haliburton during the choke taunt.

Reggie Miller pointing knowingly at Tyrese Haliburton.

Again, Reggie looked cool. Haliburton? Eh.

But that’s the point. Haliburton isn’t out here to be cool. He’s just enjoying the moment.

After the game, he said he only did the choke because he thought he had won the Pacers the game. In only tying, he said he had wasted the taunt.

And that’s the thing: he cops to when things blow back in his face. Because he knows it doesn’t really matter.

He’s just a nerd with a whole lot of self-confidence and talent.

He’ll hit you with the big-ball taunt despite it being, objectively, the goofiest thing in the world.

He’s a guy who, according to Chris Vernon (host of the Mismatch podcast), hangs out in Instagram Live auctions for niche vintage wrestling shirts:

There’s a whole niche market for collectors (of vintage wrestling shirts). Haliburton is in these Instagram Live auctions—there might be 30-50 people, Haliburton is routinely in there, anything he wants he gets.

This is the energy the NBA needs.

Basketball is great, basketball is fun

Haliburton said it best with his comically understated reaction to the Pacers’ incredible win in game one of the NBA Finals.

Immediately after the game – where he hit a jump shot to give the Pacers their first lead of the night with 0.3 seconds left – he said this to sideline reporter Lisa Salters:

Basketball is fun. Winning is fun. That’s a great win for us.

He’s right: basketball is fun. Thankfully he’s here to remind us.