Opening up Haliburton's rare moment of reflection sheds light on stars' secret struggles

You see it all the time these days. Players with their hands over their mouths at the end of matches, masking even the most banal of pleasantries from prying eyes. Not wanting to say anything that could be reported. Not wanting to let anyone in.

- Sean Ingle

A generation or two ago, writers such as Gay Talese would hang out with stars such as Floyd Patterson and hear the former heavyweight champion call himself a coward, describe how it felt to be knocked out, and accompany him to his daughter's school to see him confront bullies who kept lifting up her skirt. And that all happened on the same day.

In the modern era, few dare risk saying anything, let alone to bare their souls. You can understand their thinking: in a world where abuse on social media has become normalised, why open yourself up further?

Even so, it felt refreshing recently to see one of the NBA's biggest stars, Tyrese Haliburton, lift the lid on how it feels when your form deserts you and life turns angsty and dark. "I was struggling to look at myself in the mirror," Haliburton told the Athletic. "I'm struggling to show up to work and get to the gym. I'm trying to avoid coming to work."

It wasn't just that Haliburton had been one of the 12 NBA stars picked for the US Olympic team last summer, only to barely play after aggravating a hamstring injury. He then started the NBA season averaging fewer than 15 points in his first nine games. "I was really trying to run away from what was going on and I think that point was for me to be like: 'Yo, I don't feel like myself. I don't feel all right,'" he said. "'This shit, it's bad.'"