"Just cause he cute don’t mean he ain’t LIKE that": Erica Wheeler fires passionate defense of Tyrese Haliburton against 'most overrated player' poll

Tyrese Haliburton beat Rudy Gobert in the NBA's Most Overrated Player poll by The Athletic. The Indiana Pacers star received 14.4 percent of the total votes from a total of 158 players from the league.

The Pacers star beat Rudy Gobert and Trae Young for the title in 2025. Tyrese Haliburton had an excellent 2022-23 and 2023-24 season, and the polling results came amid his struggling 2024-25 season, when he failed to make the All-Star selection.

WNBA star Erica Wheeler was stunned by Haliburton being named the most overrated player in the NBA. The WNBA star - who played for the Indiana Fever last season - launched a passionate defense for Haliburton in a post on her social media handle.

The Seattle Storm guard posted a big message in Tyrese Haliburton's defense and predicted that the Pacers star guard would drop at least 40 points in Game 2 against the Milwaukee Bucks. She also added that Haliburton is cute only by his face, and he wasn't so cute on the basketball court.

"Yall done called Tyrese overrated watch how he go for a 40 ball tonight and help the Pacers be up 2-0!" Wheeler wrote.

"Just cause he cute don’t mean he ain’t LIKE that!! lol leave that man alone!"

Tyrese Haliburton did struggle at the start of the 2024-25 season. In his second game of the regular season, he dropped 0 points and failed to make a single shot in 25 minutes. In his first 15 games of this regular season, he shot less than 35.0 percent from the field a total of eight times.

Moreover, while his minutes have increased, Haliburton's numbers have taken a hit. He is averaging fewer points, assists and rebounds per game and shooting at a worse percentage than the last few seasons.

In the 2024-25 regular season, Tyrese Haliburton averaged 18.6 points on 47.3 percent shooting from the field and 38.8 percent from the 3-point line. He also averaged 3.5 rebounds and 9.2 assists per game.

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Tyrese Haliburton and Indiana Pacers have a bigger task against Bucks in Game 2

Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers had a comfortable 19-point win against the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first round. However, the easy ride might have come to a bigger hurdle going into Game 2.

Damian Lillard - who was on the injury report in Game 1 as he had been dealing with a blood clot - told reporters that he would return for Game 2 on Tuesday.

Lillard is a certified performer when it comes to playoffs and the Pacers' defense would have a bigger task defending Lillard. The Bucks's starting lineup performed horribly in Game 1, except for Giannis Antetokounmpo, who had 36 points.

Moreover, Tyrese Haliburton would have a bigger job in Game 2. He had a poor performance in Game 1, scoring just 10 points on 23.1 percent shooting from the field.