"He's the face of the NBA" - Paul George comments on Stephen A. Smith's take about Tyrese Haliburton deserving superstar label

Even after being labelled "overrated" by some of his NBA peers, Tyrese Haliburton has continued to take the league by storm. Coming up big in the playoffs for the Indiana Pacers — who are within arm's reach of the NBA Finals — Haliburton has defied the naysayers by emerging as one of the NBA's most lethal competitors, particularly in the clutch.

One NBA player who has voiced out support rather than criticism of Haliburton is Paul George, who gave a fearless take on a recent episode of "Podcast P."

"He's the face of the NBA. He is the number one option," George said. "He's a set-up point [guard] first, but he can be your late game scorer...I wanna see him continue to do this, which I know he will."

George also reacted to Stephen A. Smith's assertion that Haliburton was not a "superstar." According to the 76ers forward, Haliburton does have some more work to do before earning that label.

"If you show that you can do it on a night in, night out basis, now with the target on your back, that's when you're bona fide," George added.

To Haliburton's credit, he leads all players in the postseason with 9.8 assists per game. He also averages 19.4 points per game on 46.7% shooting from the field.

If Haliburton leads the Pacers to the Finals and goes on to win a championship, he'd be able to build an exceptionally strong case to claim the "superstar" tag — or, perhaps, even the title of "face of the NBA," as George puts it.

Tyrese Haliburton makes NBA history in massive Game 4 win

One of the ways that Haliburton is skyrocketing towards the "superstar" distinction is by getting extraordinary stats. This was exactly what he did during the Pacers' pivotal Game 4 victory over the Knicks.

That night, he became the first NBA player to get a 30/15/10 stat line without any turnovers in a playoff game.

As impressive as Haliburton's individual numbers were, his impact on winning was even more significant as he helped the Pacers gain a formidable 3-1 series lead on that evening.