Stephen A. Smith: Tyrese Haliburton's 'embarrassing' dad should get NBA punishment

The NBA world should've been celebrating the Indiana Pacers knocking out the Milwaukee Bucks in the playoffs Tuesday night, but with Tyrese Haliburton's dad making headlines for all the wrong reasons after his encounter with Giannis Antetokounmpo it's become clear that the situation won't be going away.

Haliburton's father was openly seen taunting Antetokounmpo and the Bucks as the final whistle blew of their Eastern Conference Round 1 series against Indiana, and from that point forward the rest of the night saw the spotlight taken away from the Pacers.

Stephen A. Smith thinks the NBA should punish Tyrese Haliburton's father for his altercation with Giannis Antetokounmpo.

"I think that this should go down as one of the most embarrassing moments of his life. He should be ashamed of himself." pic.twitter.com/KboCQhVG1L
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 30, 2025

ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith weighed in on the situation, as he always does, and called for the NBA to immediately punish Haliburton's father for his "embarrassing actions."

"I think that this should go down as one of the most embarrassing moments of his life," Smith said Wednesday following the awkward on-court situation. "He should be ashamed of himself."

Here’s another angle of Haliburton’s dad and Giannis. This is insane behavior by an old ass man.

Watch the guy in the black jersey initially sitting down in a chair with the towel on the baseline pic.twitter.com/4ldMy1Oxke
— sqr (@squaresense) April 30, 2025

Even Haliburton himself called out his father's actions after the game, so it will be interesting to see how the NBA handles the situation moving forward in the postseason.

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