

On “Inside the NBA,” Charles Barkley called on NBA commissioner Adam Silver to allow John Haliburton, Tyrese’s father, to attend games 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks in Indianapolis.
“It’s time to let Mr. Haliburton back in the building,” Barkley said after the Pacers won Game 1 Wednesday night, in part thanks to Haliburton’s clutch shot sending the game to overtime.
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John Haliburton has been banned from games since storming the court and waving a towel in Giannis Antetokounmpo’s face after the Pacers’ Game 5 win over the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round.
“Adam, I’m asking you, hey, my man paid his dues,” Barkley said as fellow panelist Draymond Green vocally agreed. “He did something really, really stupid, but he’s been punished.”
“He’s been punished enough,” Barkley said later. “He will never do something that stupid again.”
Chuck asks Commissioner Silver to let Tyrese Haliburton’s dad attend games 3 & 4 in Indy 🙏 pic.twitter.com/VmRWOng87V
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 22, 2025
John Haliburton, a vocal supporter of his son, has attended Tyrese’s games with the Indiana Pacers, home and away, and with Team USA overseas. He was not at Indiana’s second-round playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
A Pacers spokesperson confirmed that the decision for John Haliburton to step away was made by the Pacers front office and that John agreed with it.
The incident took place in a game that saw the younger Haliburton hit a clutch basket — Indianapolis’ bonkers Game 5 against Milwaukee, in which it appeared multiple times that the Pacers would lose until the final few minutes.
John Haliburton was celebrating the win in front of the Bucks’ 6-11 star, whose nickname has long been the Greek Freak. Antetokounmpo seemed to take exception to the towel waving, perceiving it as taunting, and engaged in what seemed like a stern but respectful back-and-forth. Several skirmishes between Bucks and Pacers players followed.
In Tyrese Haliburton’s postgame remarks, he said he didn’t agree with his father’s actions, and in a text message to The Athletic, John Haliburton wrote: “I was wrong, first and foremost. I got caught up in the moment and went on the court.”
(Photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)
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