Recent Tyrese Haliburton player ranking is straight-up embarrassing

Tyrese Haliburton has regularly dealt with doubters throughout his NBA career, especially after joining the Indiana Pacers in 2022. Whether it is regarding him individually or the Pacers as a whole, plenty of fans and critics seem to do whatever they can to diminish his and the team's success. This became especially true this past year.

Many believed Haliburton did not deserve a spot on Team USA, especially over players like Jalen Brunson, Jaylen Brown, and Trae Young. Additionally, en route to their first conference finals appearance in a decade, the Pacers were considered underdogs just about every step in the way. Now, even after their successful campaign last season, many believe it was nothing short of a fluke.

Haliburton is one of the brightest stars in the NBA and will only continue to improve from here on out. It is fair to say he is not a top player in the league just yet, however. The NBA is filled with talent and faces of the league. There are a lot of players who are confidently better than Haliburton at this point in time. However, there is a line with Haliburton disrespect, and that may have just been crossed.

'Inside the NBA' crew ranks Haliburton as the 25th-best NBA player

Recently, the beloved "Inside the NBA" crew, Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith, all gave their personal top-50 player rankings for the NBA ahead of the 2024-25 season. The top of the list did not look too bad--Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Joel Embiid, and LeBron James filled out the top five. However, the rest of the list is a bit questionable.

In their rankings, Haliburton placed 25th. However, what makes matters worse is that O'Neal, who has made his praise of Haliburton well-documented, is the only one of the three who placed the 24-year-old above this spot (Barkley ranked him 25th exactly, whereas Smith ranked him 33rd).

For context, every other major outlet has him ranked anywhere from the sixth to 17th-best player in the NBA. Additionally, "Inside the NBA" placed Haliburton a few spots below his old teammate, De'Aaron Fox, and one spot above an old friend to Pacers fans, Domantas Sabonis.

Haliburton has not hit his peak yet, but he is already an elite NBA player. By all counts, ranking him 25th among players in the NBA is simply too egregious. However, the Wisconsin native has experience proving his doubters wrong, and that likely will not change soon.