Tyrese Haliburton made the leap into stardom last season. Now, he's looking like a dark horse MVP candidate.

Through 17 games, Haliburton is averaging career highs across the board of 26.9 points, a league-best 11.9 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game. He is leading the way for a Pacers team that has the best offense in the NBA by a mile and is only two wins away from taking home the first NBA Cup.

It was clear early in Haliburton's career that he had the potential to be special, but he's entered a new stratosphere since being traded to the Pacers. (Our Steph Noh gave the Pacers an A grade when they acquired him from the Kings in 2022 because Noh believed at the time that Haliburton was "one of the most intriguing young guards in the league.")

The biggest thing fueling that jump? Haliburton's growth as a shooter off the dribble.

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Inside Tyrese Haliburton's 3-point development

Pull-up 3s have been a pretty big part of Haliburton's game since entering the NBA, but his attempts have been on the rise each season, to the point where he's now leading the league in that category.

No, seriously. Haliburton is taking more off-the-dribble 3s (7.3 per game) than all but one player in the NBA right now, a list that includes Stephen Curry, Trae Young and Damian Lillard. He's been incredibly efficient, too, connecting on them at a 42.7 percent clip.

Haliburton isn't just a good pull-up 3-point shooter. He's an elite one.

Tyrese Haliburton pull-up 3-point shooting (NBA.com)

Season	Frequency	3PA	3PT%
2020-21	20.7%	2.2	37.5
2021-22	26.2%	3.1	40.4
2022-23	36.5%	5.5	39.7
2023-24	40.9%	7.3	42.7

It's not like the shots Haliburton is taking are easy, either.

Haliburton has one of the funkier forms you'll ever see from someone who can, you know, shoot, but it works and he's versatile with it. He can punish teams in drop coverage and defenders going under screens with simple pull-ups, he can shoot step-backs going toward both his right and left, and he can lose even the best defenders with nifty crossovers. He's also comfortable shooting from deep. Only Curry (18) and LaMelo Ball (13) have made more 28-footers than Haliburton (11) so far this season. 

For reference, this is the sort of range we're talking about:

Beyond giving Haliburton a weapon he can consistently go to in pick-and-rolls and isolation, the pull-up opens up his game inside the 3-point line. Haliburton is a bigger guard at 6-5, but he's only 185 pounds and he's not a jump-out-of-the-gym athlete. That combination doesn't exactly lend itself to Russell Westbrook-like finishing at the basket.

Because of how versatile of a shooter he is, defenders often pick Haliburton up a couple of feet beyond the 3-point line, like so:

That extra inch or two can make all the difference for someone who operates mostly under the rim.

Only seven players are averaging more drives per game than Haliburton this season. Despite being not nearly as gifted athletically as them, he's scoring at a similar rate as LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo on those opportunities.

Combine the shooting and finishing with his passing, and you have a very special player.

Tyrese Haliburton wasn't projected to be this type of shooter

Believe it or not, Haliburton's jumper was a concern going into the 2020 NBA Draft. 

He hit an impressive 42.6 percent of his 3-point attempts over two seasons at Iowa State, but Haliburton was seen as a good spot-up shooter and not much of a pull-up threat because of his funky release.

For example, here's what Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman wrote a few weeks before the draft:

He's No. 10 for me because of concerns about his scoring potential since he doesn't have blow-by speed or a pull-up game. But I'm banking on Haliburton's playmaking, spot-up shooting and defensive IQ to improve a team's lineup.

The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor wrote something similar in his final mock draft:

Made progress off the dribble as a sophomore, but still didn’t shoot well, and his stiff form raises concern.

Haliburton likes to remind everyone how wrong they were, but there were some legitimate concerns about how his shooting would translate to the NBA. He deserves a ton of credit for turning one of his biggest weaknesses into arguably his greatest strength.