Tyrese Haliburton is an NBA player that was drafted by the Sacramento Kings and quickly proved to be one of the better first year players in his class. Having declared himself eligible for the NBA Draft after two seasons with the Iowa State Cyclones, Haliburton was eventually drafted 12th overall in the first round of the 2020 NBA Draft.

The 6-5 Haliburton’s strong, efficient play had him seriously contending as a legitimate candidate for Rookie of the Year along with the top picks in the draft, Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball. Surprisingly, the Kings ended up trading the promising Haliburton to the Indiana Pacers midway through his Sophomore season.

And like his fellow 2020 draftee Ball, some may have looked at Haliburton and wondered what his background was; specifically whether Tyrese was mixed race or biracial.

Haliburton’s mom and dad

When attempting to identify a player’s background, one direct path is looking at their biological parents.

Tyrese’s parents, John and Brenda Haliburton, have always empowered Tyrese to “speak (his) mind and stay true to who (he is) at all times,” which must have been especially important growing up in predominantly-white OshKosh, Wisconsin. We did find Brenda’s twitter here and the following was her profile photo.

Tyrese’s dad John appears to be Black. He coached basketball when Tyrese was young, but not much else could be found about the elder Haliburton’s details.

Tyler Haliburton identifies as biracial

For an answer to that question, the most straightforward way is to ask Tyrese how he identifies. Thankfully, we don’t have to ask that potentially sensitive and awkwardly personal query.

Typically, we have to do some research and make some assumptions, but no need here; the point guard recently confirmed to The Ringer in an interview about social justice, that he is multiracial:

“I’m biracial, obviously.” said Haliburton. “So having a white mom and a Black dad, understanding that that’s not something that has always been okay.”