The Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks rivalry is crossing over into the world of professional wrestling as Tyrese Haliburton invaded Madison Square Garden with Jalen Brunson in attendance during tonight’s WWE Smackdown.
Haliburton was brought out by Logan Paul before a match against LA Knight and Santos Escobar in a strong troll job at the Knicks home arena.
And if it weren’t fun enough to hear the boos from the Garden crowd as Haliburton egged them on, he then ran into an old friend as Jalen Brunson was sitting ringside and the two executed a perfect staredown before the match.
Well that was cool but surely they won’t be involved beyond that, right? Wrong. Later during the match after Paul nearly pinned LA Knight, he had Haliburton retrieve brass knuckles nearby and Brunson jumped in to distract the Pacers point guard from delivering them.
And that still wasn’t the end of it, Haliburton eventually ended up in the ring after LA Knight had emerged victorious still equipped with the brass knuckles as he and Paul surrounded LA Knight. Brunson then jumped into the ring with a steel chair for one final staredown between the two NBA stars.
Eventually Brunson and LA Knight forced them out of the ring without either NBA player using their weapons of choice—fitting for a battle between two NBA players in general but especially two stars that are good friends off the floor that have every reason to avoid another injury in the off-season as Brunson recovers from a hand injury (which you can see him looking at briefly after hoping into the ring) and Haliburton looks to enter Team USA camp with a healthy hamstring ahead of the Olympics. Still a fun time and Haliburton left the arena with a promise, “You already know. I’ll be back!”
Brunson gets credit for defending the Garden here from the announcers unlike in Game 7. Haliburton said he was glad New York could finally win something afterwards.
Brunson provided an update that his hand is okay. Haliburton and Brunson grew close as teammates through the World Cup last summer. Haliburton has noted the group chat between these two, Josh Hart, and new Knick Mikal Bridges features plenty of tampering evidence if anyone ever asks for it.
Haliburton is a long-time wrestling fan, having told stories in the past of crying in front of his mom so he could watch PPV matches with his uncle as a kid. He recently got his own shirt on the official WWE shop.
Wrestlemania is coming to Indiana next February. Perhaps we’ll see a Haliburton and Brunson rematch during the NBA season both on the court and in the ring.
Haliburton has had some connection to Paul previously as he had Paul’s Prime drink at the podium post playoff game when Pacers PR noticed the non-NBA sponsored beverage and removed it in a not-so-subtle, but hilarious manner as both Myles Turner and Pascal Siakam couldn’t help but laugh at the sequence.
You can watch the whole match without the introductions below. Haliburton and Brunson start to become more heavily involved at the 3:40 mark.
Myles Turner was all of us seeing these clips pop up on our feed.
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