Things got tense between Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley on the set of Inside the NBA after Tyrese Haliburton’s dad approached Giannis Antetokounmpo on the court.
Haliburton hit a game-winner in overtime for the Indiana Pacers Tuesday night, ending the season for Antetokounmpo and his Milwaukee Bucks. Immediately after the buzzer sounded, Haliburton’s dad was on the court, nose to nose with Antetokounmpo, taunting the one-time NBA champion.
— . (@dphoop2425) April 30, 2025
Following the incident, Barkley reprimanded Haliburton’s dad for being on the court. Shaq, however, bizarrely seemed hellbent on finding reasons to fault Giannis.
The fellas had clashing opinions about the moment between Giannis and Tyrese Haliburton’s dad 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/cbAFYTVhT6
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 30, 2025
“Giannis went and talked to him! It don’t matter,” O’Neal ranted after Barkley claimed Haliburton’s dad shouldn’t have been on the court. “Giannis talked to him, forget all that…Giannis said something to him.”
Barkley continued to defend Antetokounmpo, noting Haliburtons’ dad was in his face. O’Neal was not going to give in, saying, “So what? Everybody’s on the court.”
“His dad is not supposed to be on the court!” Barkley argued. “He’s an idiot, if you think that’s right, you’re an idiot too…that dad is an idiot.”
O’Neal kept insisting Mr. Haliburton is “always” on the court and attempted to treat fans jumping out of the stands to taunt opposing players in the playoffs as being a regular occurrence.
During his postgame press conference, Antetokounmpo respectfully said winning a game doesn’t give anyone the right to be disrespectful. Haliburton similarly didn’t condone his father’s actions, adding that he planned on speaking to Antetokounmpo about it.
But hearing Antetokounmpo and Haliburton address the incident didn’t change O’Neal’s opinion. Inside the NBA returned from hearing the postgame sound and O’Neal maintained this is all part of losing in the playoffs.
The debate went on even after hearing Hali and Giannis’ postgame comments 😳 https://t.co/EpTdEjl4JA pic.twitter.com/IgPmvBWoSv
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 30, 2025
“I played 19 years, that happened plenty of times. It comes with the territory,” O’Neal said. “When we lost to Houston, you don’t think people had brooms going to the locker room hitting us with freakin’ brooms? It is the same thing. He’s a fan.”
“I’m not saying it’s right,” O’Neal continued. “I’m just saying, don’t be a punk and whine about it. It comes with the territory. It happens, you move on. You lose and you move on.”
Forget about the fact that it was Haliburton’s dad. This still wasn’t normal fan interaction. The crowd waving brooms after a team gets swept is not the same as a player running on the court to taunt an NBA player. Shaq either completely missed the mark on this incident, or he took the playing the role of devil’s advocate too seriously.
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com