NBA players have decided on the league’s most overrated player in a new anonymous poll.
The survey, conducted by The Athletic, queried players on a variety of topics including their pick for MVP, their choice to win the title this year and the league’s best organization.
And in the category of ‘most overrated,’ the Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton was an emphatic winner (or loser), with 13 of 90 votes going towards the Indiana All-Star.
That tally counted for 14.4 percent of the vote, while the Timberwolves’ Rudy Gobert was in second place at 10 percent and the Hawks’ Trae Young placed in third at 8.9 percent.
Haliburton’s points per game dipped to 18.6 this season, though he also provided 9.2 assists and shot an efficient 38.8 percent from three for a Pacers team who finished fourth in the Eastern Conference regular season standings.
With the NBA consisting of around 450 players on standard contracts, the respondents of the ‘most overrated’ poll represents about one-fifth of the league’s players.
The Indiana Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton was voted the NBA’s most overrated player in a poll
The Pistons’ Cade Cunningham, meanwhile, was named the league’s most underrated star
Other players to receive votes for ‘most overrated’ include Jimmy Butler (5.5 percent), Ja Morant (4.4 percent), Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James, who each received 2.2 percent of the vote.
2.2 percent of respondents also said that ‘no one who reached the NBA is overrated.’
On the other side of the coin, the Pistons’ Cade Cunningham was deemed to be the ‘most underrated’ player in the league, in a poll with 136 total voters.
Cunningham, who scored 33 points in a massive Game 2 win over the Knicks on Monday, received 8.8 percent of the vote, while the Celtics’ Derrick White got 7.4 percent and the Clippers’ Norman Powell got 4.4 percent.
The Lakers’ Austin Reaves, who topped 20 points per game for the first time this season, also received 3.7 percent of the vote.
Other notable votes include Shai Gilgeous-Alexander winning an MVP poll, the Celtics being chosen to win the title and Victor Wembanyama being chosen as the ‘face of the league’ in five years’ time.
The Warriors were also named as the best organization, while the Hornets were named as the worst, and there were also ‘best’ and ‘worst’ honors given out to coaches as well.
The Thunder’s Mark Daigneault won the former poll after his team won a whopping 68 games this regular season.
The Cavs’ Kenny Atkinson – who led Cleveland to the No. 1 seed in the East and 64 wins – and the Heat’s Erik Spoelstra – came tied for second with 13.6 percent votes each of 147 total votes.
The Wizards’ Brian Keefe, meanwhile, earned a leading 24.7 percent of the ‘worst coach’ vote, followed by the recently-fired Mike Budenholzer and the Bucks’ Doc Rivers in second and third place respectively.
That category was voted on by just 73 players – fewer than the ‘most overrated player’ poll.
‘I’m not answering because I think the coaches are really good now,’ one player said.
