Reggie Miller and company praise Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton in passing of the torch

All-Star Weekend in Indiana is upon us, and you know what that means! The Indiana Pacers are getting more buzz than ever recently. On top of the festivities being held in Indiana and Pacers players plastered wherever you go, the players of Indiana's past have been front and center recently giving their flowers to the new generation, and that goes double for Reggie Miller.

Ever since Haliburton came to Indiana, Miller has been one of his biggest supporters. Widely considered to be the greatest Indiana Pacer of all time, Miller has been somewhat of a mentor figure to this young Pacers team, giving them advice every now and then and propping them up whenever he can get the chance to a big audience, which was exactly what he did on Thursday during TNT NBA Tip-Off.

Shortly after arriving at the TNT desk, Miller talked about plenty of topics, including his favorite teammates in Indiana, how proud he was of the representation the Pacers were getting, and, most importantly, the symbolic passing of the torch to Tyrese Haliburton as the face of All-Star Weekend.

Miller even went as far as to say Haliburton was the metaphorical 'captain' of the ship, with himself being co-captain, following Haliburton's lead in perhaps the biggest endorsement he could give the youngster.

This would be incredible by itself. Perhaps Indiana basketball's biggest star going out of their way to praise Haliburton and crown him the new leader of Indiana basketball is good enough.

However, Miller did not stop there. Shaquille O'Neal asked Miller if he could see Haliburton as the potential face of the league once LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry retire, and in an incredible display of confidence in the 23-year-old, Miller agreed that Haliburton could reach that level in the future, noting his leadership and his play in clutch moments as prime reasons.

For someone who has only recently started to get media attention, a label being placed onto them as one of the potential faces of the league is a huge honor, especially coming from the Pacers' greatest of all time and one of the greatest of all time in general in Shaq.

Of course, this is a huge burden to be placed on the back of a 23-year-old who has not even made the playoffs yet, but if we've learned anything from Haliburton so far, it's that he does not shy away from burdens placed on him and will face the challenge head-on.

Here's to a fantastic All-Star Weekend and continued success for Indiana basketball.