The feud between Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton and former NBA player and current New York Knicks game analyst Wally Szczerbiak dates back to last season. Szczerbiak called Haliburton a “wannabe fake All-Star” during a broadcast, which surely made the guard’s 22-point, 23-assist performance at Madison Square Garden even sweeter.
But while the guard had a few moments with Szczerbiak during the game, including staring him down at one point, his postgame response about the analyst drove the point home.
“Who?” Haliburton deadpanned after the game, per Peter Botte of the New York Post.
The one-word response was all Haliburton needed to provide, as he knows who Szczerbiak is and previously admitted to remembering the comments.
Tyrese Haliburton cooking Wally Szczerbiak 🐟🍳🐠 #NBA pic.twitter.com/hFftJLImAS
— Edilson J. Silva 🇨🇦🏀🇦🇴 (@edilsonbuzz) December 31, 2023
To Szczerbiak’s credit, he admitted to the fact that he was wrong about Haliburton, even apologizing to the guard’s father, according to the New York Post.
“It went really well,” Szczerbiak said during the MSG post-game show. “I told him, ‘My apologies, that was not my finest hour’ when I called his son a ‘wannabe fake All-Star.’
“He’s an absolute superstar. He showed it today, it was on display. John Haliburton was a great guy. He said ‘Don’t worry about it. We’ve all had moments like that, and we forgive you, my man.’”
Haliburton’s performance marked his second consecutive game with 20-plus points and 20 or more assists, a feat that had only previously been accomplished by Magic Johnson and John Stockton. Haliburton averages 24.6 points on the season, a league-leading 12.8 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game.
