MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Bucks season has come to an end at the hands of the same team as last year, the Indiana Pacers. And for a third straight time, the Bucks fell short of reaching the second round of the playoffs.
After the final whistle, things got heated between Giannis Antetokounmpo and the father of Tyrese Haliburton, John Haliburton, after he walked onto the court and supposedly tracked down the Bucks superstar.
Related: Tyrese Haliburton scolds his father for sparking postgame fracas after Pacers eliminate Bucks
However, Haliburton paints a different narrative of what happened on the court Tuesday night in an interview with TMJ4’s Rod Burks. In the interview, Haliburton admitted he was wrong for going on the court, but said that the apparent heated interaction was taken out of context and that he just got caught up in a proud father moment.
Rod Burks is interviewing @PapaHaliburton right now about what happened in Indy last night. What he says Giannis said to him during their confrontation after the @bucks heartbreaking loss. @tmj4 pic.twitter.com/7ep7FZPHes
— SUSAN KIM (@SusanKim4) April 30, 2025
“Going out on the court, that was wrong,” Haliburton said. “I should have found a way to restrain myself, but I was in the moment.”
Haliburton said the heated moment supposedly started after he went onto the court to wave his son’s banner to celebrate his son’s win, and claimed that he wasn’t intentionally staring down Giannis but was “looking through him” in the moment.
Haliburton then said a security guard grabbed his hands, took the banner, and threw it on the ground. He told Burks that he picked up the banner, told security not to touch him again, and then left the court.
WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW:
That’s when he told Burks that Giannis approached him, leading to the viral moment that has since made national headlines.
“When I was off the court, he put his hands on me. I'm not saying that he did it in a hostile way,” Haliburton said. “He reached out, he grabbed my hands. He put his forehead on my forehead, and he proceeded to say what he said to me, and that was, ‘don't you ever f——— disrespect me again.’”
Watch: Giannis on their viral confrontation
Haliburton said he responded to Giannis and told him that he wasn't trying to disrespect him, and that they even ended the interaction saying “I love you” to each other and parting amicably.
“When he said that to me, I said, ‘I love you.’ He said back to me, ‘I love you,’” Haliburton said. “We patted chest, he gave us a thumbs up, and he walked away. They won't show that on social media, right? You know, they're only showing that they think that he was so upset, that we wanted to fight.”
When explaining why they butted foreheads, he told Burks that the Bucks star did it so “social media couldn't read his lips.”
“When he came, his head, he brought his head close to me because he wanted to talk to me, you know, close up, so social media could not read his lips,” Haliburton claimed. “So that’s why he did that.”
Post-game reaction
In a postgame interview, Antetokounmpo said he likes Tyrese Haliburton, calling him a great competitor, but he said John Haliburton displaying a towel with his son's image while yelling, “this is what we (expletive) do,” was wrong.
“I feel like that’s very, very disrespectful,” said Antetokounmpo, who finished with 30 points, 20 rebounds, and 13 assists.
Giannis believes in being humble in victory. pic.twitter.com/GYEXyHoXUu
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) April 30, 2025
In Wednesday’s interview with Burks, Haliburton admitted to waving the flag but denied taunting Giannis and cursing at him.
“It upset me because it was a lie, right? And I ain't scared to tell you a lie is a lie, right? I never said that to him. I do not swear,” Haliburton said. “You can't do anything to me to make me swear. You understand, right? Listen, I do not do that, right?”
I sincerely apologize to Giannis, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Pacers organization for my actions following tonight's game. This was not a good reflection on our sport or my son and I will not make that mistake again.
— John Haliburton (@PapaHaliburton) April 30, 2025
When asked if he meant to taunt Giannis, he said that wasn’t his intention.
“Let people realize that he was in the moment, right?” Haliburton said. “He's human, right? And he felt like 'I did something like a man's supposed to. If I'm a man, if I feel like you did something to me, Imma step to you.'”
Haliburton also expressed frustration over the viral moment, saying that the incident overshadowed his son's and the Pacers' achievement of advancing in the playoffs.
“The biggest moment in my son's life, his team, the organization, took place last night, right?” Haliburton said. “What it took away from is the attention of the organization. How they come together and make a second round, right? You know they're talking about the team, talking about going forward instead, the world wants to put their attention on Haliburton’s pop and Giannis.”
Haliburton told Burks that he believes the interaction was blown out of proportion and that he and Giannis are in a good place.
“We said we loved each other, like he said in his press conference. We got our understanding, right? Yeah, we got our understanding,” Haliburton said. “We're in a good place.”
When asked about his son’s response to the interaction, he said his son had the right to tell him how he felt but clarified that he was not “checked.”
“My son don't check me. That's my child, right? My son was brought up to say what's right and what's wrong, right? He had a right to tell me, ‘Dad, I don't agree with what you did, what you did was wrong, because I came on the floor,’” Haliburton said. “He's absolutely right, okay, but let it be known to Stephen A. Smith and everybody else, my child don't check me.”
Thoughts on potential NBA disciplinary action
When asked if he’s worried about potential NBA disciplinary action, he said he wasn’t concerned and added, “they can do what they want to do.”
“I'm not concerned about if the NBA is going to suspend me or whatever they're going to do, because they can do what they want to do,” Haliburton said. “If they're going to look at one wrong, look at the other wrong. I was on the sideline when Giannis approached me, right? Two wrongs don't make a right, at least that's the way I was brought up.”
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
