Dwyane Wade declares Tyrese Haliburton a ‘superstar’ after latest clutch heroics

Dwyane Wade has made his thoughts on Tyrese Haliburton abundantly clear. 

Like basketball fans across the globe, the Hall of Famer went ballistic as he watched Haliburton hit the go-ahead jumper with 0.3 seconds remaining to give the Pacers an 111-110 win over the Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday. 

“Superstar!” Wade declared on a livestream. “Superstar! Superstar! Superstar!”

As Haliburton’s pull-up midrange went down, Wade jumped out of his chair and began yelling in disbelief.

Countless fans surely had a similar reaction to the insane shot.

Except, of course, for the 18,203 at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, who were understandably shell-shocked, devastated and silent. 

Haliburton had just 14 points in the win, but Wade’s “superstar” claim is hard to dispute after the clutch shot – and the Indiana guard’s remarkable run of big-time moments in this playoff run. 

The two-time All-Star has hit a tying or winning shot in each of the Pacers’ four playoff series – with each new moment even crazier than the last.

First was a go-ahead layup with 1.3 seconds left in Game 5 of Indiana’s first-round series against the Bucks, which clinched the Pacers’ gentleman’s sweep of Milwaukee. 

Next was a game-winning step-back 3 in Game 2 of the second round against Cleveland, after Haliburton intentionally missed a free throw and grabbed his own rebound. 

Then came the circus shot that sent Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Knicks to overtime, which fell at the buzzer after taking a sky-high bounce off the back iron to cap a ferocious fourth-quarter comeback, before Thursday’s heroics in his NBA Finals debut.

Haliburton’s “superstar” status has been a common topic of debate throughout these playoffs. 

He is the best player on a Pacers team that now finds itself leading the Finals, 1-0, but doesn’t have the gaudy stats of some of the league’s other headliners. 

Haliburton is averaging 18.5 points per game in the playoffs  – the 26th-highest mark among postseason performers and the second-highest on Indiana behind Pascal Siakam (20.9).

But Wade – a three-time NBA champ and 13-time All-Star – didn’t hesitate to stamp Haliburton with the “superstar” label nonetheless. 

The shot – which will go down in NBA Finals history – left him with no doubt.