Tyrese Haliburton can turn an awkward truth into a punchline, but the story he shared this week about Team USA’s Paris Olympics run lands because it’s honest before it’s funny. Recounting a pre-tournament film session on Mind the Game, Haliburton described the moment he realized the “not everybody can play” conversation was, in all likelihood, about him.
“Oh, they talking about ME… It’s over. I ain’t getting no PT out here,” Haliburton recalled thinking.
Tyrese Haliburton on finding out he wasn’t playing in the Olympics:
“Oh, they talking about ME… It’s over. I ain’t getting no PT out here.’” 💀
(via @mindthegamepod)pic.twitter.com/EDMkogeBCV
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) January 27, 2026
It’s an unusually human snapshot from inside the most star-studded environment in basketball: twelve NBA names, one rotation, and a head coach, Steve Kerr, tasked with delivering the message that somebody will be a spectator even on a gold-medal team. Haliburton said the meeting included Kerr laying out the basic math, while LeBron James referenced his own limited role in the 2004 Olympics as a reminder that ego has to shrink when “USA” is on the chest.
The numbers underline why Haliburton’s internal monologue felt plausible. During the 2024 Paris tournament, he appeared in just three games, totaling 26 minutes and scoring eight points , all team lows, and he did not play in the gold-medal game. Yet the public face of it was pure Haliburton: after the U.S. beat France 98–87 for gold, he leaned into the joke with a viral post likening himself to the group-project guy who didn’t do much but still got an A.
That’s the balancing act that makes the quote work. It’s self-deprecating, sure, but it also captures what elite basketball players rarely admit out loud: even All-Stars get insecure when the room is full of legends and the minutes are scarce.
