Indiana Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton opened up about his friendship with Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark after the rookie completed her first season in the WNBA.
Clark arrived in Indiana this season and took the Fever to the playoffs for the first time since 2016 with a strong campaign following a run to the national championship game with Iowa.
At the Pacers’ media day on Monday, Haliburton was asked for his thoughts on the budding WNBA star, with whom he has grown close since her arrival in Indianapolis.
“To see the explosion of women’s basketball [and] “Because a big part of it is the Fever and it’s in my backyard, I thought it was really cool to see it up close,” Haliburton told the media.
‘Went to so many [games] as I could. I’ve become quite close to it [Clark’s boyfriend] Conor McCaffery was an intern with us last year. Then I became quite close to Caitlin and him and me, her, him and my friend Jade, we have a group chat where we talk about everything quite often.
Tyrese Haliburton opened up about his friendship with fellow Indiana basketball star Caitlin Clark
Clark just completed her freshman season by leading the Fever to their first playoffs since 2016
“It was cool to just build a friendship with her. I don’t… Everyone just wants to get more from her, take more from her, get more answers to things. I don’t want to be that.
“We’re friends, and I think that’s a cool part. If she wants to talk about basketball, we talk about basketball. If not, then that’s totally fine with me. But I think we’ve built a pretty cool friendship besides Connor.
“It’s been really cool to see her growth over the past year, and the Fever as a whole, to see Kelsey [Mitchell] get some playoff experience and just the whole group, Aaliyah [Boston]the whole group.’
‘It’s really cool to follow the team. It’s a shame they lost, but it’s a young group. They come back for success and now [I’m] locked up and watching more WNBA.”
Clark, and people who claim to be fans of her, have been in the news recently after an entire season of racism on social media.
The Fever star has denounced the vitriolic language being spread, saying: ‘It’s certainly disturbing.
“No one in our league should experience any form of racism, hurtful, disrespectful, hateful comments or threats. Those aren’t fans. Those are trolls and it’s a real disservice to the people of our league, the organization, the WNBA.”
Clark has been at the center of a media storm this season over racism on social media
Last week, the WNBA Player’s Association released a statement criticizing reporter Christine Brennan for asking Connecticut Sun player Dijonai Carrington about a foul she committed against Clark.
The WNBPA claimed the question provoked a racist narrative.