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Giannis Reveals What Tyrese Haliburton’s Dad Said to Him to Start Confrontation

Stephen Douglas

Tyrese Haliburton’s father and Giannis Antetokounmpo had to be separated following the Pacers win over the Bucks.
Tyrese Haliburton’s father and Giannis Antetokounmpo had to be separated following the Pacers win over the Bucks. / House of Highlights / YouTub
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Giannis Antetokounmpo got into a heated confrontation with Tyrese Haliburton's father John following the Milwaukee Bucks loss to the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night.

After the dust settled, Giannis revealed that Haliburton taunted him by holding up a towel with his son's face on it and shouting variations of "this is what we F-ing do."

Giannis described what was going through his mind in the moment, as well as reflected on how he tries to remain humble when he wins and how his own family approaches his success.

"Losing the game. The emotions run high," Giannis explained. "Having a fan, which at the moment I thought he was a fan, but then I realize it was Tyrese's son, which I love Tyrese. I think he's a great competitor. It was his dad, sorry. Coming in the floor and showing me his son, a towel with his face, this is what we do. This is what we F-ing do. This what the F we do. This... I feel like that's very, very disrespectful."

Antetokounmpo's entire response is worth watching if you have three and a half minutes. While discussing how his own family acts, he even allowed for the possibility that he might someday be a basketball dad who crosses a line.

At the very end he mentioned that they talked again—which is what could be seen in the clip that first caught everyone's attention—and he thinks they're in a good place.

This combined with Tyrese Haliburton saying he would reach out to Antetokoumpo should ensure that the bad blood between Milwaukee and Indiana remains basketball-related going forward.

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Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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