Tyrese Haliburton is coming off a season in which he led the Pacers to the Conference Finals while averaging an impressive 20.1 points and a league-leading 10.9 assists per game. That helped earn him Third Team All-NBA honors and his second consecutive All-Star appearance. 

Despite that success, Haliburton hasn’t had much of a role on the USA’s Olympic basketball team. In five exhibition games, he averaged just 14.8 minutes and 2.0 points per game.

Those numbers have been shifting downward, too. After logging 20 minutes in the opener, he played just 18, 15 and seven minutes before receiving a DNP over the next four games. 

Here’s why Haliburton has gotten phased out of head coach Steve Kerr’s Olympic rotation. 

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Why isn’t Tyrese Haliburton playing in the Olympics?

USA has a roster crunch at guard

Haliburton did play well in some of the exhibition games. He hit two clutch 3s to help beat Australia in the USA’s second game, but the team filled six of its 12 roster spots with guards, which has made Haliburton redundant.

Stephen Curry is going to start these games and play a lot of minutes. Curry is undersized, and Kerr has opted to start Jrue Holiday alongside him to add a stronger defensive player. Devin Booker has also started next to Curry to add even more shooting. 

Behind Curry and Holiday, Anthony Edwards was the USA’s best player last summer and has provided instant offense off the bench. Derrick White has been a reliable glue guy for the team and is better as a role player than Haliburton. 

Haliburton has fallen behind those five excellent guards, and there simply haven’t been enough minutes to go around. It hasn’t helped that he hit just 30 percent of his shots during those warmup games. 

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Tyrese Haliburton presents defensive concerns

Haliburton has been very active as a defender. His 1.3 steals per game during the exhibition games was second on the roster to Edwards. He was praised for his defense on the broadcasts.

Haliburton wasn’t at that level during the NBA season, though. He doesn’t move particularly well laterally, and he’s had trouble staying in front of his man. He was targeted relentlessly in the playoffs. 

Kerr may be worried that the same thing will happen in the Olympics. He also has much better defensive options at guard with All-Defensive nominees in Holiday and White. And Haliburton is tough to play alongside Curry because both aren’t great at one-on-one defense. 

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Will Tyrese Haliburton play in the Olympics?

Kerr’s rotation is far from set, so there is still a chance that Haliburton could see an increased role on the team. He was a key player last summer for the USA in the FIBA World Cup, and his playmaking has been very solid. 

Haliburton is among the best transition players on the roster. If the USA needs more offense, then he could be a better option over White off the bench. He could make a bigger impact if Curry is unavailable for any of the games, filling a similar role as a great shooting threat. 

Haliburton is one of the best guards in the world, but the USA has such an embarrassment of riches at the position that White’s supporting role has been more useful.

For now, Haliburton’s job is to stay ready.