On the latest episode of Inside the NBA, Shaquille O'Neal clashed with his co-hosts, especially Charles Barkley, when they discussed the recent altercation between Giannis Antetokounmpo and Tyrese Haliburton's father.
When reacting to the incident, the Inside the NBA hosts immediately started talking over each other and telling each other to "stop it" when they made their case for who was at fault. Barkley insisted that Haliburton's father should not have approached Antetokounmpo on the court following the game. "You can't do that," Barkley said, to which Shaq disagreed.
Barkley said that he thinks Haliburton's dad is "100 percent wrong," but Shaq argued that Antetokounmpo is at fault. "Giannis said something to him," he said. "What is his dad doing on the court?" asked Barkley. "His dad is not supposed to be on the court! ... He's an idiot and if you think that's right, you're an idiot too." Kenny Smith chimed in to counter Shaq's suggestion that Haliburton's father could be on the court because he "always" is by saying he's not entitled to do so just because his son is a player.
Haliburton apologized for his father's actions after the game, and Antetokounmpo criticized him while making sure to add that he "loves" Haliburton. After hearing what both of the players had to say following the game, Shaq said his opinion remains the same.
"I played 19 years, that happened plenty of times," said Shaq. "Don't be a punk and whine about it. Lose and move on. ... I don't care what y'all talking about, it comes with the [territory]."
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Tyrese Haliburton's father exchanged words at the end of the Milwaukee Bucks' Game 5 loss to the Indiana Pacers this week. "His dad came onto the floor and showed me a towel with Tyrese’s face on it, saying, 'This is what we do. This is what we fucking do!' I feel like that’s very, very disrespectful," said Antetokounmpo. "Now, I’m not the kind of guy who points fingers, because where I come from, snitches get stitches. So I don’t want to say anything that could get him fined or cause trouble. But it wasn’t respectful."
Haliburton, meanwhile, said, "I don't think that my pops was in the right at all there."
