Blog

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs incorrectly gave veterans about $5 billion more in disability compensation and pension payments than it should have in the last four fiscal years — an error that lawmakers say is recurring and getting worse.

In an oversight hearing Wednesday, the House Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs pressed VA officials to explain how the agency planned to rectify a problem that regularly creates financial nightmares for veterans when they are asked to pay the money back.

“Our veterans live paycheck to paycheck,” said Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas, who chairs the subcommittee. “A lot of them are in a deep, dark, black hole.”

Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky., said committee staff members visited the VA’s Debt Management Center in February and met veterans who were “confused, angry and even suicidal because they incurred a debt they didn’t know about.”

The VA issued at least $5.1 billion in compensation and pension overpayments from fiscal year 2021 to fiscal year 2024, Luttrell said. The VA said it overpaid nearly $1.4 billion in fiscal year 2024 alone.

The VA only collected a “portion” of the four-year debt, meaning the agency wasted roughly $677 million in taxpayer dollars, Luttrell said.

Agency officials said many factors lead to overpayment, including administrative errors as well as veterans’ failures to report dependents they no longer have and other changes to their eligibility or status.

Nina Tann, executive director of the VA’s compensation service, said the agency, which serves about 9.1 million people, has a “heightened risk” of making improper payments due to the large number of beneficiaries and the high-dollar amounts it doles out. 

Tann said the agency has taken steps to prevent, detect and correct the issue, including being better about notifying veterans that they need to report changes.

Tann also said the VA fixed an administrative error in January that had been causing duplicate payments for about 15,000 veterans with dependents in fiscal year 2024. The agency did not force those veterans to repay the money, she said.

The overpayments sometimes span many years. In 2023, the VA temporarily suspended the collection of pension debts for thousands of low-income wartime veterans and their survivors after the agency identified an issue with income verification that led to overpayments between 2011 and 2022.

Overpayments also stem from a little-known federal law that prohibits veterans from receiving both disability compensation and special separation pay, or lump-sum incentives that were offered when the U.S. had to reduce its active-duty force or release slightly injured service members.

Since fiscal year 2013, the earliest year for which the VA shared data, the VA has clawed back more than $2.5 billion from about 122,000 disabled veterans who had unintentionally received both benefits, NBC News previously reported.

Luttrell said veterans should not be responsible for correcting government-made errors.

“That’s our fault,” he said. “We have to fix that problem.”

A clear path forward was not established during the roughly one-hour hearing, and Luttrell asked Tann to continue speaking to him afterward. 

“Our heartache is the fact that it’s trending in the wrong direction,” Luttrell told the agency officials. “We’re losing ground.”

CARACAS, Venezuela — A 2-year-old girl arrived Wednesday in Caracas to reunite with her mother after she was separated from her parents when they were deported from the U.S. in what Venezuela denounced as a kidnapping.

Maikelys Espinoza arrived at an airport outside the capital, Caracas, along with more than 220 deported migrants. Footage aired by state television showed Venezuela’s first lady Cilia Flores carrying Maikelys at the airport. Later, Flores was shown handing the girl over to her mother, who had been waiting for her arrival at the presidential palace along with President Nicolás Maduro.

“Here is everyone’s beloved little girl. She is the daughter and granddaughter of all of us,” Maduro said.

The U.S. government had claimed the family separation last month was justified because the girl’s parents allegedly have ties to the Venezuelan-based Tren de Aragua gang, which U.S. President Donald Trump designated a terrorist organization earlier this year.

The girl’s mother was deported to Venezuela on April 25. Meanwhile, U.S. authorities sent her father to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador in March under Trump’s invocation of an 18th-century wartime law to deport hundreds of immigrants.

For years, the government of Maduro had mostly refused the entry of immigrants deported from the U.S. But since Trump took office this year, hundreds of Venezuelan migrants, including some 180 who spent up to 16 days at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been deported to their home country.

The Trump administration has said the Venezuelans sent to Guantanamo and El Salvador are members of the Tren de Aragua, but has offered little evidence to back up the allegation.

Maduro on Wednesday thanked Trump and his envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, for allowing Maikelys to reunite with her mother in a “profoundly humane” act. Grenell met with Maduro in Caracas shortly after Trump took office.

“There have been and will be differences, but it is possible, with God’s blessing, to move forward and resolve many issues,” Maduro said, alluding to the deep divisions between his and Trump’s governments. “I hope and aspire that very soon we can also rescue Maikelys’ father and the 253 Venezuelans who are in El Salvador.”

A New Jersey couple has been charged after an 18-year-old escaped their residence and said she was forced to live in a dog crate for a year, given a bucket to use as a bathroom and sexually abused.

Brenda Spencer, 38, and Branndon Mosley, 41, of Gloucester Township, were charged with kidnapping and Mosley with additional counts of sexual assault, The Camden County Prosecutor’s Office and Gloucester Township Police announced Wednesday. 

The 18-year-old female had escaped the home on May 8, assisted by a neighbor, prosecutors and police said in a news release. The abuse was then reported to police on Saturday.

The victim said Spencer and Mosley had abused her since 2018.

Around that time, she was removed from school when she was in the sixth grade “at Spencer’s discretion and confined to her home,” officials said.

The victim said shortly after she was pulled out of school, she was “forced to live in a dog crate for approximately one year and was let out periodically,” the release said. 

Later, she was forced to live in a padlocked bathroom and was chained up. She told police she would be let out of the bathroom when family visited the home. At other times she lived in a bare room with a bucket to use as a toilet.

The victim told police the room had an alarm system that would “alert Spencer and Mosley if she tried to leave.”

The victim also reported being beaten with a belt and sexually abused by Mosley, officials stated.

Detectives searched the home and found the victim lived in “squalid conditions” crammed with numerous dogs, chinchillas and other animals. 

A 13-year-old child also lived in the home and was removed from school years prior at Spencer’s discretion, and both girls were allegedly homeschooled, the release said.

Spencer was unemployed and Mosley worked for Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) as a train conductor. He was one of the employees honored by SEPTA in March, described as a train engineer. 

Spencer and Mosley were both charged Sunday with kidnapping, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, five counts of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child — abuse/neglect, criminal restraint, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and unlawful possession of a weapon.

Mosley was further charged with two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, two counts of second-degree sexual assault and one count of endangering the welfare of a child — sexual contact. 

They were arrested at their home on Sunday and remanded to the Camden County Correctional Facility pending detention hearings. 

A public defender listed for the couple declined to comment on the case.

Streaming service Max is yet again changing its name, but users will be familiar with the new branding: HBO Max.

The decision was announced Wednesday by Warner Bros. Discovery during a presentation in New York. The change in name is slated for this summer.

The change restores the recognizable HBO branding, which has been on something of an adventure ever since the early days of streaming services. It’s something the company leaned into on Wednesday, publishing a series of posts to social media poking fun at their own expense.

In one meme, a pigeon sits atop the famous WB water tower as white smoke billows from a chimney — a reference to the recent conclave to select a new pope. “A new brand has been chosen,” the description reads.

In another meme, three cartoon Supermen point at each other, a nod to the famous Spider-Man meme. (Superman, unlike Spider-Man, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.)

In 2010, HBO called its streaming service “HBO Go.” In 2014, the company rebranded the next iteration of a subscription streaming service to “HBO Now.” In 2020, HBO first added the “Max” title to become “HBO Max” as it launched an independent streaming service. The branding had been introduced a year earlier. Then, in 2023, the company announced it would drop the “HBO” and simply be known as “Max.” Now, the company is reverting back to the “HBO Max” name.

“With the course we are on and strong momentum we are enjoying, we believe HBO Max far better represents our current consumer proposition. And it clearly states our implicit promise to deliver content that is recognized as unique and, to steal a line we always said at HBO, worth paying for,” said Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and Max content, in a statement.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in a statement that the company decided to reintroduce the HBO moniker because it “represents the highest quality in media.”

In a news release, Warner Bros. Discovery said that its streaming business was able to increase profitability in the last two years, expanding its global streaming base by 22 million subscribers. It also said it was seeking to have another 150 million paid customers by the end of 2026.

The company said it plans to prioritize box office movies, docuseries, certain reality series and original content while moving away from other genres that drive less engagement.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in his new add-on role of national security adviser, is expected to significantly scale down the size of the National Security Council and make a drastic change to how it works, four people with direct knowledge of the plans told NBC News.

Shrinking the staff at the NSC would be in part designed to more closely align how it operates with the way President Donald Trump makes decisions, these people said. Rather than a large staff generating policy recommendations for the president, the idea is to create a version along the lines Trump prefers — more top-down, with the president directing the national security adviser who then leads the staff to carry out those orders, two of the people said.

The NSC, which is run out of the White House, is the core hub for coordinating a policy process across government agencies to help the president make decisions on foreign policy and national security matters. The size of its staff, which can be as many as several hundred, has changed under different presidents.  

When Trump took office the NSC had 300 staffers, which was cut in half in January to about 150. The expected cuts could whittle the staff down to 50-60, but a final decision has not been made, said three of the people with direct knowledge of plans. Rubio does not plan to fire any staff but is expected to reassign them to other agencies, a senior administration official with direct knowledge of Rubio’s decision making said. 

“Secretary Rubio is doing an incredible job serving as both Secretary of State and White House National Security Advisor,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to NBC News. “Under his leadership at the White House, the NSC team will be streamlined to ensure maximum efficiency and coordination with outside agencies.”

During his flight to the Middle east this past weekend, Rubio discussed the structure of the NSC with Sergio Gor, the White House director of presidential personnel who has managed the appointment of Trump’s staff. 

Alongside other White House officials, Gor and Rubio reviewed data collected over the last three months about NSC personnel and settled on a plan to significantly cut down the size of the staff, the people with direct knowledge of the plans said. 

The data included spreadsheets of NSC staff, positions and salaries, as well as possible redundancies where multiple staff are performing similar duties, one of these people said.

Mike Waltz, who Trump removed as national security adviser earlier this month, had run the NSC in what two of the people with direct knowledge of the planned changes called a “traditional” style that mirrored the way then-President Joe Biden ran the agency, and was not aligned with what Trump prefers.

Rubio also discussed shifting some of the NSC staff’s responsibilities to other agencies, including the State Department and Central Intelligence Agency, one of the people with direct knowledge of the plans said. Currently, government agencies detail staff to work at the NSC, where they focus on specific national security issues or regions of the world and compile information to help inform the president’s decisions.

Under the expected new structure, individual government agencies would make their own recommendations to the national security adviser’s team, and if any coordination is needed, an official from one of the agencies would run point on the matter, according to one of the people with direct knowledge of the plans. The proposed plans to downsize the agency come after Trump fired some NSC officials in April, one day after he met with far-right activist Laura Loomer, who raised concerns about purportedly “disloyal” people working for the administration. 

Rubio is expected to serve as national security adviser for at least six months, according to Trump. The president could name a more permanent replacement by the end of the summer, according to one source involved in discussions.

An Ohio man is accused of burning 100 library books on African American, Jewish, and LGBTQ history, sparking a public outcry.

The Beachwood Police Department said the man checked out the books in April, days after he went to the Beachwood library branch on Shaker Boulevard and got a library card, NBC affiliate WKYC of Cleveland reported.

He allegedly told the librarian that his son was a member of the LGBTQ community and that he was trying to learn more about it, the news station reported.

The library was informed that the man had posted a photo showing a car trunk full of books on the site, Gab.com, according to WKYC. The books had Cuyahoga County Public Library stickers on them. The library was later informed that the man posted a video that appeared to show him burning all of the books he checked out.

The books cost around $1,700, the news station reported.

The Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism described Gab as “an online hub for extremist and conspiratorial content” that it mostly used by “conspiracy theorists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, members of militias and influential figures among the alt right.”

The Beachwood library directed NBC News to the Cuyahoga County Public Library, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Interfaith Group Against Hate, a coalition led by Jewish, Muslim, and Christian congregations, quickly condemned the man’s actions and said it wants to collect 1,000 “new books lifting up Black, Jewish, and LGBTQ+ voices,” Congregation Mishkan Or said in a Facebook post Monday.

“Whoever perpetuated the idea that you can burn us out of Cleveland, deport us out of Cleveland and deny our ideas and oppress us and frighten us to the corner…they picked the wrong community!” Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk from Mishkan Or said in a statement.

“And that community will continue to respond with love. Let’s use this moment to instead of standing in fear, to stand against this oppressive act, and deepen our convictions to learn about each other’s faith, race, culture and values,” he continued.

“We want to take this act of hate and turn it into a powerful symbol of unity, solidarity and love,” Rev. Ryan Wallace of Fairmount Presbyterian Church said.

Sen. Kent Smith, a Democrat, said the man’s actions “cannot be tolerated.”

“I condemn this act, not only because it is a crime against our institutions and community, but also because it is fundamentally un-American,” Smith said in a statement. “This act of violence is not just a crime against the public catalog of literature that was destroyed, but also is a violation of the marketplace of ideas that is a bedrock principle of American life.”

It’s not clear if the man faces charges. Police said the incident is most likely a civil matter, and the local prosecutor would determine if charges are warranted, according to WKYC. Police said the library wanted the incident documented and that the books are not yet overdue, the news station reported. The man will receive a bill once they are overdue, and the bill will be sent to collections if it is not paid.

NBC News reached out to Beachwood police and the prosecutor’s office for comment.

Angel City defender Savy King was recovering from heart surgery following her collapse on the field during a National Women’s Soccer League match on Friday night.

King was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles following the medical event in the second half of Angel City’s match against the Utah Royals. Doctors who evaluated King discovered a heart abnormality, and she underwent surgery Tuesday.

“She is now resting and recovering surrounded by her family, and her prognosis is excellent,” the team said in a statement.

King’s family released a joint statement thanking the team’s medical staff, King’s fellow players and the hospital medical staff for her care.

“On behalf of our entire family, along with Savy, we have been so moved by the love and support from Angel City players, staff, fans and community, as well as soccer fans across the country,” the statement said. “We are blessed to share Savy is recovering well and we are looking forward to having her home with us soon.”

Players on both sides were visibly shaken as trainers rushed to King’s side after she went down in the 74th minute of Friday’s match. She was attended to for some 10 minutes before she was stretchered off the field on a cart.

Angel City said King was transported to the hospital but was responsive and undergoing further evaluation.

“We are grateful to the Angel City medical staff as well as to local paramedics who handled this difficult situation seamlessly,” the NWSL said in a statement on Saturday.

In an Instagram story, Washington Spirit national team forward Trinity Rodman offered prayers for King and her family, adding: “In no world should that game have continued.”

The league said in its statement that it would review its policies to determine if changes needed to be made.

NWSL rules for 2025 state that the league “recognizes that emergencies may arise which make the start or progression of a Game inadvisable or dangerous for participants and spectators. Certain event categories automatically trigger the League Office into an evaluation of whether delay or postponement is necessary.”

There were 12 minutes of stoppage time added to the match. Angel City won the game 2-0.

King, 20, was the second overall pick in the 2024 NWSL draft by expansion Bay FC and played 18 games for the club. She was traded to Angel City in February and had started in all eight games for the team this season.

Trump offers an optimistic vision of relations with countries in the Middle East. The Supreme Court’s upcoming hearing on birthright citizenship will tackle the power of lower courts. And the Menendez brothers were resentenced in their parents’ 1989 killings. 

Here’s what to know today.

Trump says he’ll end sanctions on Syria and seeks to deepen ties with Saudi Arabia

President Donald Trump spoke of a future for the Middle East steeped in prosperity, business deals and technological advances as he announced the U.S. would end sanctions against war-torn Syria and signed a $600 billion investment agreement with Saudi Arabia in his first visit to the region since his second term began. He also offered an image of rising regional powers steeped in homegrown economic self-development. 

Applause followed Trump’s promise to withdraw sanctions in Syria. But in announcing his “fervent wish” that Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords, the diplomatic agreements Trump’s first administration made between Israel and several Arab nations, the president drew silence from the room. The ongoing conflict with Hamas remains a sticking point for Saudi Arabia, which has reaffirmed its support for a Palestinian state in recent months. 

This is Morning Rundown, a weekday newsletter to start your day. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

The $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the U.S. includes $20 billion in AI data centers and other technologies, while companies like Google, Salesforce, Uber and Oracle will invest $80 billion in projects across both countries, according to a White House statement.

Also in attendance at yesterday’s ceremonial events were Sam Altman of Open AI, Palantir CEO Alex Carp, billionaire Blackrock co-founder Larry Fink and the leaders of companies like Amazon and Coca-Cola, to pitch Saudi investors as the kingdom promises to spend on technology, infrastructure and more. Elon Musk was also present.

Trump’s rhetoric and vision of a prosperous future with the region contrasted the words of former President Joe Biden, who deemed Saudi Arabia “a pariah” before taking office. And while rejecting the idea that U.S. policy should judge foreign leaders’ morals, he swiped at destructive forces in the region, calling out Iran for causing “unthinkable suffering in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, Yemen and beyond.”

Today, Trump met with Syria’s new president in a major breakthrough for the former jihadi commander.

Read the full story here.

Also looming over Trump’s visit this week is Qatar’s proposed gift of a luxury plane to be used as a new Air Force One for the president. Trump has said he would accept it. However, aviation experts said converting the 747 jet would cost over $1 billion and might not be completed by the end of Trump’s term in 2029. The jet would have to be dismantled, part by part, to ensure there were no listening devices or other vulnerabilities, and then fitted with sophisticated systems for secure government communications. That’s not all.

More politics news:

• Key House committees are debating critical portions of a sweeping package for Trump’s agenda, from how much to cut Medicaid to what to do about the state and local tax deduction, with Speaker Mike Johnson still hopeful for a vote before Memorial Day weekend. 
• A proposal from some House Republicans to cut more than $290 billion from the SNAP program has critics fearing the effect on low-income families at a time when food prices are climbing.
• Proposed Medicaid rule changes — which would include new work requirements, co-pays and tougher eligibility checks — could result in an estimated 8.6 million people losing coverage, an analysis found. Doctors are fearing the worst.
• More than a month after Trump’s “Liberation Day,” the White House celebrated tariff agreements with China and the U.K., which it called starting points. But so far, the U.S. has given up more than it has gained. 
• A federal grand jury indicted Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan, who was arrested by the FBI for allegedly obstructing government agents seeking to detain an undocumented immigrant. 

SCOTUS’ birthright citizenship hearing to focus on judges’ power

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments tomorrow over President Donald Trump’s plan to end birthright citizenship, but the court is not actually using the cases before it to give the final word on whether Trump can reinterpret the long-understood meaning of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. Instead, it will focus on the question of whether lower-court judges have the authority to block the policy nationwide.

The Trump administration is asking the court to limit the scope of the birthright citizenship injunctions so that they apply only to individual people, organizations that sued or potentially the 22 states that challenged Trump’s executive order. In recent months, his administration and allies have raged at judges for issuing “universal injunctions” concerning birthright citizenship and other policies which a DOJ official characterized as a “direct attack” on presidential power. While broad injunctions have also been used against former Presidents Joe Biden (18 during his term) and Barack Obama (19 during his two terms), Trump, who saw 86 injunctions during his first term, has sought to use executive power to circumvent Congress more than his predecessors.  

Five of the six members of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority have, in various cases, raised concerns about universal injunctions and suggested they should be curbed in certain circumstances. Read the full story here.

Cassie’s testimony of abuse and humiliation at Diddy’s trial

R&B singer Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, took the stand on the second day of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ federal sex trafficking trial, detailing years of alleged abuse by the music mogul. Ventura is the prosecution’s star witness, and her 2023 lawsuit against Combs, which was settled privately one day after it was filed, became a framework for the government’s sprawling case against the music mogul. 

In her first day on the stand, Ventura, 38, gave graphic and emotional testimony of alleged physical abuse and control that included dayslong, drug-fueled sexual encounters with male escorts under Combs’ direction. She said she first participated in the “freak-offs” around 2008, when she was 22, and they continued while she dated Combs on and off before the pair split in 2018. The sex would occur in Combs’ homes, her homes and hotel suites around the world, and Ventura said they might find escorts off Craigslist, paying them between $1,500 and $6,000. Combs appeared to listen intently during the testimony.

“I felt pretty horrible about myself,” Ventura said. “I felt disgusting. I felt humiliated.” 

Ventura, who first met Combs in 2005 when she was 19 and signed a 10-album deal with his Bad Boy label, also testified that her music career stalled when arranging “freak offs” for Combs “became a job.” She went on to say that angering Combs would result in physical and ongoing psychological abuse. 

Read more about Ventura’s testimony and her allegations against Combs. She’s expected to take the stand again today, and her testimony could last through the week.

NBC News is following the trial closely. Sign up for the Diddy on Trial newsletter to receive the latest news, including insights and analysis from our team inside the courtroom. 

Menendez brothers resentenced, eligible for parole

After months of delays, opposition from Los Angeles County’s district attorney and a series of witnesses who advocated for them, Erik and Lyle Menendez are now eligible for parole in the 1989 killings of their parents at their Beverly Hills home. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic said in a ruling yesterday that the brothers would be resentenced to 50 years to life, adding that he did not believe they posed an “unreasonable risk” if released. Now, a California parole board will weigh whether the men are suitable for release and is expected to submit its clemency recommendation next month to Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

The brothers, who have been serving life sentences without the possibility of parole, gave statements after yesterday’s ruling. Lyle said he made no excuses for killing his parents or for seeking to have people perjure themselves on his behalf. Erik echoed those comments. Read the full story here.

Read All About It 

• The FDA announced it will pull prescription fluoride drops and tablets for children off the market, arguing that the best way to prevent cavities is to stop eating so much sugar.
• Baseball’s all-time hits leader Pete Rose, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and other deceased players were taken off the MLB’s permanently ineligible list, making them eligible for the Hall of Fame.
• Georgia police are dropping charges against a college student who they admit was mistakenly pulled over, but she’s still in ICE custody and faces deportation.
• A new study found that men die at twice the rate as women from “broken heart syndrome” even though the condition is more common in women.
• UnitedHealth Group announced a new CEO, a surprising shake-up as the company navigates the aftermath of UnitedHealthcare leader Brian Thompson’s killing.

Staff Pick : A genealogy scavenger hunt

I’ve always been fascinated with learning about Louisiana’s history and unique cultural stories. As someone who has done extensive family research myself in the state, it’s exciting to uncover unexpected connections. The process feels like a scavenger hunt.

So when I started seeing chatter about Pope Leo XIV’s ties to New Orleans on social media, I connected with genealogist Alex DaPaul Lee, who has assisted me in previous archival searches for my reporting in Louisiana. He told me that he had discovered evidence of Leo’s ancestral roots, which show his Creole background through his great-great-grandmother, Celeste Lemelle.

But historic documentation from Louisiana, as we saw while looking through the Lemelle family’s records, can reveal both the highs and lows of history: ownership, status, literacy, freedom and wealth, juxtaposed with racism, social class divides, slavery and discrimination. All of it adds spice and complexity to the perfect bowl of gumbo. 

The resulting story of Pope Leo’s lineage shines a light on our imperfect American history while bringing an extra layer of pride to people from Louisiana. — Maya Eaglin, NBC News correspondent

NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified 

Wondering how to treat scars and reduce their appearance? Dermatologists helped the NBC Select team find the best scar treatments and what ingredients are most useful. Plus, many women aren’t familiar with the stage that precedes menopause: perimenopause. Experts identify common symptoms and products that may help. 

Sign up to The Selection newsletter for hands-on product reviews, expert shopping tips and a look at the best deals and sales each week.

Thanks for reading today’s Morning Rundown. Today’s newsletter was curated for you by Elizabeth Robinson. If you’re a fan, please send a link to your family and friends. They can sign up here.

Tyrese Haliburton arrived for a photoshoot in a Las Vegas casino last summer holding onto a pair of silver-tipped cowboy boots and a grudge.

Before the Indiana Pacers guard slipped into a denim outfit and in front of a magazine’s camera, he rattled off all he was grateful for: consecutive appearances at the league’s All-Star game, a contract that would pay him an average of about $52 million annually, and an invitation to play for the United States in the Paris Olympics.

Yet what Haliburton seemed especially thankful for was something else entirely — a perceived criticism that “everybody thinks my success in the first half of last season was a fluke,” he said.

For a player who had gone from effectively being cut from his teenaged travel squad to an NBA All-Star in less than a decade while fueled by collecting slights, it might as well have been like being handed a gift.

“I’m at my best,” Haliburton told me then, “when people are talking s— about me.”

One year later, the NBA is learning that still holds true.

Since being named the NBA’s “most overrated” player in April by an anonymous vote of his peers, as polled by The Athletic, Haliburton has authored a revenge tour that has landed Indiana in the Eastern Conference Finals for a second consecutive season. The Pacers are now four wins away from their first appearance in the NBA Finals in 25 years.

As Haliburton was making all five 3-pointers he attempted in the second quarter of Tuesday’s Game 5 against Cleveland — en route to 31 points in the series-clinching victory that knocked out the Eastern Conference’s top seed — none less than LeBron James referenced, and refuted, the overrated label.

Haliburton has appeared to relish getting the last laugh. After hearing chants of “overrated” in Milwaukee during a first-round series Haliburton, who grew up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, won the series by driving past Giannis Antetokounmpo, one of the NBA’s toughest defenders, for a basket with a second remaining in overtime. He celebrated with a post on X for emphasis.

Of the 90 players who voted for most overrated in The Athletic’s poll, 14.4 percent chose Haliburton, or about 13 players overall in a league of 450. It could have followed Haliburton’s markedly slow start to the season as he struggled to play through injury. Still, the poll followed expletive-laden criticism on a podcast from Hall of Fame point guard Tim Hardaway Sr., who said Haliburton “thinks he’s all that.”

The sentiments from players both active and retired, though pointed, were hardly universal. But they were all Haliburton needed, said Bryan Johnikin, who coached Haliburton as a teenager on a Milwaukee-based AAU team and remains close to the guard. He has watched Haliburton’s heroics help Indiana beat Milwaukee, then take down Cleveland, with little surprise.

“I’m not, personally, because as soon as I know they called him overrated or said he don’t belong, it really motivates him,” Johnikin said.

Johnikin met the guard when Haliburton was 14 years old and wounded after learning his former AAU team wasn’t keen on him to return.

It was Johnikin’s role as Haliburton’s new coach, he said, to understand what motivated the point guard. Being passed over for Wisconsin’s “Mr. Basketball” honor, awarded to the state’s top high schooler, did the trick. So did arriving for college at Iowa State as a relatively low-level recruit and leaving it as a much-debated draft prospect in part because of the low release of his jump shot.

What those evaluations perhaps missed was Haliburton’s ability to think his way through a problem, Johnikin said. Knowing pace of play typically drops from the regular season to the playoffs, Indiana has done the opposite, running at the postseason’s third-fastest pace.

“I guarantee you, if you put everybody that’s in the playoffs, put them in the classroom, he’s gonna be the smartest guy,” Johnikin said.

Haliburton has averaged 17.5 points, 9.3 assists and 5.5 rebounds in the playoffs, where the Pacers are 17 points better per 100 possessions with Haliburton on the court versus when he sits; no Indiana teammate has a higher on/off rating.

“Hali, that boy he making a lot of people look crazy with that ‘overrated’ s—,” former NBA player Dorell Wright said on a podcast with Dwyane Wade this week. “We need a recount.”

“His game don’t look like you expect it to, right?” Wade said. “He’s got an unorthodox form … he ain’t going to be top 10 in the league in scoring, but he’s still going to dominate the game.”

Among NBA superstars Haliburton, who runs a YouTube channel in which he plays video games against his brother and prefers mid-sized Indianapolis to the league’s shinier, big-city markets, has a notably placid personality. Yet as a devoted fan since childhood of professional wrestling and its theatrics, he is also quick to embrace the villainous role of the “heel.”

In addition to his breakout NBA season, and earning an Olympic gold medal in 2024, one of Haliburton’s personal highlights last year was being written into a skit during WWE Smackdown, in which he and New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson stared one another down. (In real life, the two are friends.)

These playoffs have felt like a long, extended stare-down with the rest of the league. Haliburton followed his series-winning comeback against Milwaukee by stunning Cleveland with a game-winning 3-pointer to cap another improbable comeback in Game 2. Research by ESPN found that since 1998, teams were 3-1,640 when trailing by seven or more points in the final minute of the fourth quarter or overtime. In this postseason alone, Indiana accounts for two of those three wins.

“I think there is always commentary behind what I do, positive or negative, and I mean it’s hilarious because a lot of times it’s people who know nothing about me have so much to say,” Haliburton said after a second-round victory. “It’s usually people who don’t come around or don’t spend any time around me that have the most to say, but that’s all part of it. I’m a basketball player, I love what I do.

“… I feel like criticism is sometimes warranted, sometimes it’s not but it’s all a part of it.”

Last year, during warmups before Game 7 of a second-round series against New York in Madison Square Garden, Haliburton noticed a specific fan he heard making critical comments and became determined to make him a one-fan motivational tool, turning to glare at the fan after every basket. The Pacers won, and it reinforced to Johnikin a strategy that could be worth every postseason penny in the Eastern Conference Finals — where they could face the Knicks or Boston Celtics — and possibly the NBA Finals.

Indiana should “just pay people to sit in the front row and just talk crazy to Ty, because that’s when he gets going,” Johnikin said. “I’m not worried about him when he goes to New York. Spike Lee and the rest of them talking crazy, he loves that. I call it the ‘it factor.’

“If you talk crazy to Tyrese he’s gonna go, for sure.”