Tyrese Haliburton didn’t have the flashiest game when the Indiana Pacers managed to even the series against the Milwaukee Bucks. However, he was a key contributor who helped facilitate the Pacers to overcome a Bucks side that still played strongly despite Giannis Antetokounmpo’s absence.
However, what was supposed to be a great day for Haliburton and his family turned out to be stressful as a family member got called a racial slur during the game. While the game didn’t completely affect his on-court performance, the incident was troubling enough that both Haliburton and the Bucks had to speak up about the incident.
Tyrese’s Haliburton’s brother got called the N-word as the Indiana Pacers beat the Milwaukee Bucks
Haliburton—who finished the game with 12 points, four rebounds, 12 assists, a steal, and a block—talked about the incident in detail during his post-game presser.
“My family came out showed love and it’s been good to have them here,” Haliburton said, via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “My little brother – in the stands the other day – was called the N-word. And so, like, it was important for us as a family like to just address that. And that was important for us to talk about because that just didn’t sit right with anybody in our, you know, in our family.”
It was an embarrassing situation for the Bucks, and the organization quickly released a statement regarding the situation:
“An arena guest services representative reported that during Sunday’s game a few guests were not sitting in their correct seats,” a Bucks spokesperson said, via ESPN. “The guest services representative asked the group to move one section over to their correct seats. Then, one of the individuals in the group claimed to the representative that a person sitting in front of him had used a derogatory term toward him. The accused person denied the accusation. The group moved to their correct seats and no further incident was reported.
“We take our fan environment extremely seriously and are committed to providing a safe and secure experience.”
This situation, while unfortunate, has been nothing new when it comes to NBA games. Players have been harassed by fans over the years, with Kyrie Irving and Chris Paul calling foul over some of the things fans have called them over the past couple of seasons.
It’s going to be tough to police every soul that comes into an NBA stadium, but the league should take even more proactive steps to stop such incidents from happening to any player or fan ever again.
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