Tyrese Haliburton is one of the NBA's brightest stars, and he just let fans in on the secret to his success: NBA 2K.
In an interview with The Ringer, the 23-year-old revealed how the popular sports video game franchise helped him learn the game of basketball. According to Haliburton, the 2K camera is how he sees the court in real-time.
"Honestly, a lot of my hoop knowledge in knowing how to play comes from video games," the 23-year-old point guard said. "When you're playing 2K, and you're on that camera angle where you can see everything ahead of you, that's how I think sometimes."
Besides video games, Haliburton explained that his father showing him highlights of five-time NBA champion Magic Johnson helped him improve his game since being drafted in 2020.
In his rookie season, Haliburton averaged 13.0 points, 5.3 assists, and 3.0 rebounds and had jumped to 20.7 points, 10.4 assists, and 3.7 rebounds in his 2023 campaign. In that same season, Haliburton became an All-Star for the first time.
In the 2024 campaign, the rising star is averaging 23.8 points, 12.2 assists, and 3.9 rebounds. With how he's been performing, Haliburton may get his own highlight reel mixed with a classic hip-hop or R&B song someday.
The highlight reel trend picked up steam on social media after a tweet popped up that said, "TikTok is great because you could just be scrolling and then get shown Ben Wallace x MF DOOM highlights." Others agreed and shared several posts that showed various highlights from NBA greats intertwined with classic records from Amerie, The Isley Brothers, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, and more.
