The NBA announced the 10 players who were named to the 2022-23 All-Defensive Teams on Tuesday, which sparked plenty of discussion about snubs and who got more votes than they should have. While the 10 names that made the teams weren’t a huge surprise — which didn’t stop there from being some fan bases mad their guy didn’t make it — there were some particularly curious one-off votes that raised eyebrows.
Among them was Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton receiving a first-team vote, which was the only ballot that had him on All-Defense at all. That was a rather shocking selection from someone, and even the All-Star himself was confused to find that he’d received a vote, posting a rather incredible response on Twitter to the news.
https://t.co/SnBSOEhx53 pic.twitter.com/3KnaYH7wph
— Tyrese Haliburton (@TyHaliburton22) May 9, 2023
We love when a player can find the humor in something like this, as Haliburton knows he’s not exactly known for being a lockdown defender. He did finish tied for 20th in the league in steals (91) on the season and isn’t a bad defender, but you’d be hard-pressed to find too many that would have him near the top of their list of guard defenders in the league. Apparently one person has him top-two, though, and Haliburton was able to have a little fun with his placement on the “others receiving votes” tab.