Tyrese Haliburton led the Pacers to the in-season tournament championship after a hard-fought win over the Bucks on Thursday.
When discussing Haliburton’s dominant performance, during which he recorded 27 points and 15 assists without committing a single turnover, TNT’s Charles Barkley took a stray shot at James Harden.
Barkley joked that amid Haliburton’s breakout season, Harden was lining up plans to join the 23-year-old in Indiana.
After some back and forth banter with Stephen A. Smith, who was sitting on an entirely separate desk during the ESPN-TNT combined in-season tournament coverage, Barkley turned his targets toward Harden.
“I was talking to Woj,” joked Barkley, via NBA on TNT. “Woj said Haliburton is playing so good, James Harden wanted to be traded to Indiana.”
Chuck: “Woj said Haliburton is playing so good James Harden wanted to be traded to Indiana!” 🤣 pic.twitter.com/zjTK45bwtN
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) December 8, 2023
“That would be the first report that I know of that Woj got wrong, because Indiana and James Harden don’t go together,” responded Smith.
Haliburton recorded his third game this season with 25-plus points, 15-plus assists, and no turnovers. No other player has more than one such game in their career since the league began tracking turnovers in 1973.
Harden, who was traded to the Clippers at the start of the season following a very public feud with Daryl Morey and subsequent trade demand, has only just gotten settled in his new surroundings in Los Angeles. That didn’t stop Barkley from joking that he was already imagining life in Indianapolis playing alongside Haliburton and the Pacers.
