INDIANAPOLIS -- On one hand, leap years are special for Tyrese Haliburton, because he gets to have an actual, real birthday. But in the course of his life, the years when he doesn't have one have actually been more lucrative.

Today marks 24 revolutions around the sun for the Pacers' All-Star point guard, but it's only his sixth birthday. He is a Leap Day baby, born Feb. 29, 2000.

"It's exciting to have a real birthday," Haliburton said. "In school that was always my, give a fun fact about yourself, that was always mine growing up."

On the years when he doesn't have a birthday, though, he usually claims two and celebrates on Feb. 28 and March 1. So that means two days of gifts and two nights of celebrations. He tries to make a little more out of Feb. 29ths when they happen, but he's not sure it comes out even.

This year he'll be on a business trip, though to an exotic location. The Pacers play the Pelicans again on Friday night in New Orleans, so they will be in the historic party city on Thursday night, but Haliburton didn't give any indication he was looking to hit the town the night before facing the sixth-place team in the Western Conference.

"I bought myself some gifts," Haliburton said. "I do that every year, though. Honestly, when it's not my birthday, I get two days to celebrate. So I would argue that it's just as good without my birthday because I get two of them, but for this birthday this year I bought myself more gifts than I usually would. I celebrate it accordingly."

Still, this will be a better birthday for Haliburton than his fifth for obvious reasons. He was still at Iowa State on Feb. 29, 2020 and he had broken his wrist on Feb. 10, which ended his sophomore season. And at the time, the United States' fears about the onset of COVID-19 were just becoming a reality and everyone's season was over two weeks later.

The following year he was an NBA rookie with the Sacramento Kings when he legally turned 21 in a year without an actual birthday. He had for years wanted to find out exactly when he'd be considered legal to purchase alcohol or enter a bar, but he didn't push it for multiple reasons.

"That was interesting because I really wanted to test that theory," Haliburton said. "I wanted to go to a club or something like that on the 28th to see if they would let me in. But it was COVID and I was in California. I didn't try to go buy alcohol or anything. I should have tried it that day just because. I'm curious if they would have let me. I don't know."

He did have a birthday when he turned 16 and he wasn't allowed to take his driver's test before Feb. 29 to get his license. He went to try to get it that day but he failed.

"It's the two-birthday anniversary celebration of that," said Haliburton, who grew up in Oshkosh, Wis. "It snowed that day and I switched lanes in the middle of an intersection, like right away. So it's like 15 points. That's the majority of the points right there. I had to re-take it a couple days later and I ended up passing."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Leap-day baby Tyrese Haliburton celebrates birthday No. 6