Tyrese Haliburton jokes about Cy-Hawk rivalry after Indiana Fever draft Caitlin Clark
Nobody was surprised when Iowa women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in Monday’s WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever. But she isn’t the first basketball product from the Hawkeye State to land in Indianapolis in recent history.
Tyrese Haliburton was selected with the No. 12 overall pick by the Sacramento Kings in the 2020 NBA Draft before being traded to the Indiana Pacers in the middle of the 2022 season. But unlike Clark, he played his college hoops for the Iowa State Cyclones, the bitter in-state rival to the Hawkeyes.
But after being collegiate rivals, Clark and Halliburton are now allies in Indiana, which he acknowledged on Twitter following the Fever’s first-round selection.
“Glad we’re finally on the same side!” Haliburton tweeted on Monday night followed by a crying with laughter emoji. “Congrats and welcome to the city!! @CaitlinClark22.”
The Cy-Hawk rivalry between Iowa and Iowa State is one of the most notable across the college sports landscape that goes beyond just the football field.
Clark boasts a 3-1 record against Iowa State in her college basketball career. But Haliburton was not as lucky during his two seasons in Ames, losing to Iowa in both of his matchups of the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series. But now both No. 22s for their alma maters will look to take their respective Indy basketball teams to championship heights as the young, promising faces of the franchise.
Haliburton has already laid a solid foundation for the Pacers in his career, named to his second straight All-Star Team this season after averaging 20.1 points per game and a league-leading 10.9 assists per game. Leading Indiana to their first playoff appearance this season since 2020 as a No. 6 seed that will square off with the Milwaukee Bucks in a series starting on Sunday.
Clark is not only being looked upon to help save the Indian Fever following their 13-27 finish last season, but potentially the entire WNBA as well after being the most popular women’s college athlete in recent history.
College basketball’s all-time leading scorer helped sell out arenas and break television viewership numbers throughout her college career at Iowa, and her game translating to the next level could potentially do the same for the WNBA.
Clark’s Fever jersey became Fanatics’ top-selling draft pick jersey in any draft night history across all sports just two hours after being selected, with 36 of Indiana’s 40 games scheduled to be televised or streamed nationally this upcoming season. As she and Haliburton will look to elevate Indiana hoops the same way they did for the state of Iowa moving forward in their careers.