Hines: Criticism of ex-Iowa State basketball star Tyrese Haliburton shows he's arrived

One of the most important things to know about the NBA in order to understand it is that it's a haters league.

Players, teams, coaches, franchises everyone and everything in that league is both a hater and the hated.

They are often defined not by what they have done or can do, but about what they havent done or are perceived as unable to do.

Its not a place where many are celebrated.

There are some who reach that summit, no doubt, but thats usually after years of bulldozing through the hate.

And that summit? Thats just a brief respite until the hate once again flows.

Michael Jordan was a numbers collector, not a winner, until he got past the Pistons and became the greatest winner in maybe all of sports.

Shaquille ONeal was an unserious player who would never utilize his size and talent to dominate the league, until he did just that.

The Spurs won five NBA titles over 15 years, sure, but my God were they boring.

Steph Curry was a small guard with bad ankles before he became the game-changing best shooter who ever lived.Hating on LeBron James, the guy who very well could be the best basketball player in the history of the universe, is essentially its own multi-million dollar industry.

The NBA is a player-hating paradise.

Which brings me to Tyrese Haliburton.

The former Iowa State star has become an increasingly popular target for haters in recent weeks as his Indiana Pacers make their way through the NBA playoffs, which has included a 4-1 series win against the Milwaukee Bucks and a Game 1 Eastern Conference semifinals win against the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Haliburton Hate kicked into overdrive last month when The Athletic published its anonymous players poll in which his peers voted him as the NBAs most overrated player.

Then, Haliburtons own father did him no favors when he made his way onto the court to taunt Giannis Antetokounmpo, an MVP, NBA champion and generally one of the most-liked players in the league, after the Pacers dispatched the Bucks on a Haliburton series-winner in overtime, no less.

More: 'Superhero in my book': Tyrese Haliburton journeys through basketball alongside his motherMaybe it was Haliburtons first All-Star season that hinted at his potential for superstardom in his third NBA season.

Or maybe it was his second All-Star appearance last year and his subsequent All-NBA selection that did it.

Coulda been his spot on the gold-medal Team USA Olympics squad last summer, too.

Great accomplishments, certainly.

In fact, they probably make Haliburton not only the best pro to ever come out of Iowa State basketball, but probably the best Cyclone pro in any sport in school history.

None of that, though, is a better indication of Haliburtons upward trajectory that finding himself as the haters new favorite object.

Because you cannot be loved in the NBA until you are hated.

More: Iowa State's Tyrese Haliburton's career ascends with USA Basketball in 2024 OlympicsMore: 'Superhero in my book': Tyrese Haliburton journeys through basketball alongside his motherIt is a ruthless, vicious place where some of the planets top-tier haters reside.

The hating in the NBA is so advanced that its not even your flaws that become the locus of criticism.

No, that would be too remedial, and NBA Haters, well, they run the PhD program in hating.

In the NBA, its your own success that proves youre actually trash.

Haliburtons first All-Star appearance? Who cares came on a bad team he couldnt elevate past a 35-47 record.

Well, what about that second All-Star selection and a spot on the All-NBA third team while taking the Pacers to the Eastern Conference Finals? Simply proof that Haliburton isnt good enough to take a team to the actual Finals, say the Haters.

An Olympic gold medal as a member of one of the best basketball teams ever assembled? Well, Haliburton barely played and if you cant crack the rotation on a team with more future Hall of Famers than not, well, youre actually no damn good.

That $250 million contract is just another thing Haliburton won't be able to live up to, scream the Haters.

A great signal of Haliburtons rise through the NBA ranks is that his dad mildly, but still unbecomingly got into a one-sided tiff with Antetokounmpo and was a major part of the NBA news cycle for a couple days.

When the hate goes there into overdrive after a small dust-up not by the main character but by a family member you know the guys got game.

Because NBA hate is really just jealousy and admiration.

Its a function of the small world that makes up the basketball universe from middle-school AAU onward as well as the oceans of money at stake.

The NBA is basically a small town where everybody has known everybody for decades and theyre all vying for a piece of the same fortune.

Thats what makes it perfect for player hatin.

While this might be rarified air Haliburton is currently operating in, its not totally unfamiliar territory.

A haters best weapon is reminding its target of what it isnt and cant do.

Thats basically been Haliburtons entire basketball life.

He couldnt be a high-major player.

He would never be a lottery pick.

He couldn't be the face of a franchise.

He would never be among the NBAs elite.

Haliburtons unimpressive basketball pedigree, his dramatic style of play and that ear-to-ear smile that leaves his face only when hes talking trash to opponents all contribute to the hatin.

When a guy who should have gone to Northern Iowa, who shoots a set shot like its 1957 but passes like he can see the future and who talks and talks and talks while cooking you to a crisp, well, thats for the haters.

So, here we are, with Haliburton steadily moving up the NBAs ladder where the stakes are high and the hate is loud.

That just means youre making progress toward that summit, where the things they say you could never do become the things youve conquered.

Where the hate turns to adulation.

The hate is just the surest sign youre on your way.

Iowa State columnist Travis Hines has covered the Cyclones for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune since 2012.

Contact him at [email protected] or (515) 284-8000.

Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State star Tyrese Haliburton is climbing the NBA stardom ladder.

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