Tyrese Halliburton: Why Are People Calling Pacers Star ‘The Haliban?’

To Indiana Pacers fans, Tyrese Haliburton is a hero, putting in an incredible NBA season for his team. But to fans of every other team, his success is nothing but a reign of terror.

Haliburton's impressive performance during the Pacers' games against the New York Knicks, which Indiana ultimately won 4-2, inspired a new meme that saw some referring to him as 'the Haliban.' A portmanteau of his name and the Islamic fundamentalist group the Taliban, which has been designated as a terrorist group by the United States and several of its allies, the meme has quickly taken off among NBA fans.

For an example of how Haliburton has been playing, check out a video circulating on X, formerly Twitter, that shows all the clutch plays Haliburton pulled off within the last two minutes of a game this NBA season.

It's no secret that he's been an indelible force and is a big reason why the Pacers have made it to the NBA Finals. It's all great news for fans of the franchise, but fans of other teams don't exactly feel the same way.

The 'Haliban' meme has taken off big-time on social media, with some sharing photos that put Haliburton's face on Osama Bin Laden's, even though he's the founder of Al-Qaeda, not the Taliban.

Following the Pacers' first victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals, supporters of his efforts and haters alike shared memes highlighting how much of a threat 'the Haliban' has become. The memes are certainly of questionable taste, but at least it's all in good fun, unlike the acts of terror his skills on the court have been compared to.

While Haliburton has been unstoppable so far, some are hoping that Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander takes him down a peg. In fact, some have referred to him as 'Shaisis,' or 'Al-Shaida,' or 'Shai-Qaeda.'

Comparisons to the Taliban and other designated terrorist groups are nothing new in pop culture. It's relatively common in hip-hop, especially. In 2014, for instance, Future released the track "Freeband Taliban," and NLE Choppa dropped a song named "Taliban" as recently as 2020.