PARIS — They stretched out on the concrete steps, gold medals around their necks. USA Basketball clothing on their persons, maybe a bottle of champagne in their hands or next to them.
Team USA took the picture outside Accor Arena in Paris after midnight last summer when it beat Team France to win the gold medal in men’s basketball. Arguably the most talented team in U.S. men’s history, with three of the greatest to ever play, all needing to pitch in to survive a semifinal scare from Serbia and then edge the host country, 98-87, in a game that was much closer than the score indicates.
The Indiana Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton was in that picture. He was laid out on the stairs (it’s a unique setup here in Paris; the arena is covered by grass, and the concrete steps are cut into the side hills outside the building), wearing cargo pants and a Team USA windbreaker.
He is the first member of Team USA to return to the scene where they won the medal, as his Pacers are playing the San Antonio Spurs twice this week at Accor Arena. On the other side will be Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, who also starred last summer for Team France.
Upon his return Wednesday, when the Pacers practiced after the Spurs, Haliburton couldn’t resist the joke. Unlike the Olympics semifinal and final games, Haliburton will get to take off his warmups and be on the court during the proceedings.
“I’m excited to play and actually play in this arena,” Haliburton cracked.
No one played fewer minutes for Team USA last summer than Haliburton, who appeared in just three games and only attempted five shots. Part of it was roster construction — the Americans played Steph Curry, LeBron James, Anthony Edwards and Jrue Holiday as ball-handling guards — and Haliburton also was nursing a leg injury. On a team with that much star power, one or two great players were bound not to play as much as they would like. Haliburton was one, whereas Jayson Tatum’s occasional displacement from the rotation was a more controversial instance of this happening.
Not playing much stung Haliburton, but he still said it was special to be back in Paris at the arena where his team made history with the program’s fifth consecutive gold medal. He cited the iconic photo taken from the Accor steps.
“I took a picture (of the steps Wednesday),” Haliburton said. “I’ll probably send it to our team group chat later, but yeah, definitely just lifelong memories, regardless of what the experience was for me personally. I was a part of a group of 12 guys, and there are really only 12 of us as players who got to experience that.”
Haliburton, 24, is averaging 17.9 points and 8.8 assists for the Pacers this season. He has recovered from a poor start to the campaign, especially as a shooter, and is now chucking it at a 35.5 percent clip from 3-point range. His slow start, as well as the competition at his position in the East, makes it unlikely that he will be an All-Star for a third time. The Pacers are hot — winners of eight of their last 10, a streak that has coincided, in part, with Haliburton’s improvement.
Should Indiana get the best of San Antonio this week, Haliburton said there would not be a Pacers team photo trying to re-create the one he was a part of with Team USA.
“I don’t think I would even allow it,” Haliburton said. “Hopefully it will become like a national monument or something.”
(Photo: Franck Fife / AFP via Getty Images)
