Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton is preparing to play in the NBA Finals for the first time and is firmly established as one of the best players in the league. Yet the satisfaction level never sinks in for the former three-star recruit at Oshkosh North in Wisconsin and the player traded by the Sacramento Kings just 109 games into his career.

The Oklahoma City Thunder bring arguably their best team in franchise history into the NBA Finals, led by MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a strong group of players alongside him.

Here's a previously unbelievable sentence that became increasingly believable in the past 18 months: The Indiana Pacers will play in the NBA Finals for just the second time ever -- and Tyrese Haliburton is the biggest reason why.