Tyrese Haliburton on Caitlin Clark being 'amazing' and the Fever are 'like rock stars'

All the way in Paris, Caitlin Clark was brought up during Tyrese Haliburton's press conference before practice.

Caitlin Clark was an All-Star, Rookie of the Year, and voted to the All-WNBA First Team. (Photo: Ryan May/800 Meter)

PARIS — The similarities between the Pacers and Fever are remarkable.

The most obvious one is that they are led by All-Star, pass-first point guards who are super competitive and embrace putting on a show.

Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers, and the entire basketball community in central Indiana excitedly welcomed Caitlin Clark to the city last April after she was the Indiana Fever’s pick at No. 1 in the WNBA Draft.

She changed everything — for the WNBA, for the city, and especially for the Fever.

This was in the middle of the Pacers’ surprise playoff run to the Eastern Conference Finals. So it wasn’t until the summer, when things slowed down, that Haliburton and Clark were able to connect.

Haliburton and Clark — especially Clark — can’t do normal things. They can’t go out to dinner like regular folks. Both have team security assigned to them. And they feel the pressure of leading their franchises.

Soon after meeting, a group text of four was created with those two plus their significant others. Haliburton was courtside for Fever games after his return from the Olympics and the two sat together in a suite at the Wisconsin-Butler game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. (Clark’s boyfriend, a former Pacers staffer, is a Butler assistant.)

Just two hoopers who love the game — it doesn’t matter the level. Even though they played at rival colleges, Haliburton at Iowa State and Clark at Iowa, basketball in Indiana unites them.

During Haliburton’s 11-minute press conference before practice on Wednesday — more than 4,100 miles away in Paris — the final question was about Clark, who coincidentally is celebrating her 23rd birthday today, Jan. 22.

He gave a thoughtful, two-minute response to how Clark has handled the pressure and him being able to follow the Fever’s rise.

“I’ve said it many times: Caitlin is amazing,” he began. “For me, getting to actually spend time around her, be around her, get to know her personally, she's just an amazing person, an amazing player.

“She deals with a lot. There's a lot of rhetoric behind her that she really has no control over and I think that the way she handles that is just amazing.

“I think when it comes to the game of basketball, she's probably top five most famous people that are playing right now. Just in general, that includes our league as well. And she handles it with such grace and she's like such a cool person. At the end of the day, she's just a girl from Iowa who's just really good at basketball and it's really cool to see what she does.

“I think the Fever in general — they're like rock stars. They are a big part of the growth behind that league and they will be a big part of that moving forward because I think everybody can see that there's going to be a lot of success from that team moving forward with Aliyah (Boston), Kelsey (Mitchell) and a new coach (Stephanie White) and a new GM Kelly (Krauskopf) just came from our organization. So I'm really excited to see how they do moving forward.

“She's a superstar; a superstar. Really, one of the first superstars that the W has had it at that level, at the level she's at. So to see what she's doing is amazing.

An opening night sellout crowd. They shattered all team and league attendance records. (Photo: Ryan May/800 Meter)

“She's become a good friend of mine over the past year and anything that I can do to help, I will, but I don't think she necessarily needs my help. I mean, she's amazing. That group is amazing. And to see what they're doing for women's basketball as a whole has been really cool. And she’s spearheading that.

“So I'm just glad to be a part of the journey and watch what she does. I feel like I have a front row seat with her being in our backyard. The Fever doing that is amazing.”

Just last week, the Fever detailed their plans to build a state-of-the-art practice center.

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