Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers will travel to play the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday in the second round of the NBA Playoffs. Haliburton’s father, John, will not be joining them.
A spokesperson told ESPN’s Shams Charania that John Haliburton will not attend the team’s games, both home and away, “for the foreseeable future.” Haliburton’s absence comes as a result of a confrontation with Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo following the Pacers’ series-clinching win on Tuesday.
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Per Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star, the timeline on when John Haliburton could return to the sideline is not entirely clear. He could be kept out of the arena through the rest of the playoffs, but his status after the postseason has not been discussed.
Tyrese Haliburton ended the Bucks’ season Tuesday by hitting a last-second, game-winning basket over Antetokounmpo in OT. Emotions ran over on the court, with Antetokounmpo getting into it with multiple players before entering a heated exchange with Haliburton’s father, John. Antetokounmpo and John Haliburton got in each others’ faces and traded fiery words before getting separated.
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Antetokounmpo addressed the altercation in a postgame news conference, saying that he initially thought that John Haliburton was a fan before realizing it was Tyrese’s father.
“Having somebody’s dad — and I’m happy for him and I’m happy for his son, that’s how he’s supposed to feel — but coming to me and disrespecting me and cursing at me is totally unacceptable,” Antetokounmpo said.
Tyrese Haliburton also spoke about the incident postgame, saying that he didn’t agree with his father’s choices, and saying that he planned to talk to Antetokounmpo about it eventually.
“I don’t think my pops was in the right at all there,” Tyrese Haliburton said. John Haliburton later apologized for his behavior.
