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NBA All-Stars Jalen Brunson & Tyrese Haliburton Have WWE SmackDown Confrontation

By John Canton • Published 29th June 2024
WWE NBA Smackdown Tyrese Haliburton Jalen Brunson

Two NBA All-Stars nearly got physical during a high match on WWE SmackDown in Madison Square Garden.

There was a huge Men’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match on WWE Smackdown from Madison Square Garden in New York. It was a triple threat match between US Champion Logan Paul, LA Knight and Santos Escobar.

Before the match, NBA All-Star Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks was shown at ringside. Brunson had a terrific season for the Knicks, who were one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

When Logan Paul made his entrance for the match, he was joined by NBA All-Star Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers, who was booed heavily. That’s because the Pacers beat the Knicks in a spectacular 7-game series in the NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals. Since Smackdown was in the same building where the Knicks play, the crowd was vocal towards Haliburton. There were even “f**k the Pacers” chants during the match.

The end of the match saw Paul tell Haliburton to get him the brass knuckles that Paul has used in WWE matches in the past. Haliburton got the brass knuckles from Paul’s friend at ringside, but Brunson jumped the barricade and got in Haliburton’s face to prevent interference.

After Knight dropped Santos Escobar with a BFT to take him out of the match, Paul tried rolling up Knight for the win. Paul held onto Knight’s tights on the pin attempt, but Knight was able to reverse it and sat on top of Paul while holding his tights for the win.

When the match was over, Haliburton joined Paul in the ring. Haliburton had the brass knuckles on his right hand. Jalen Brunson went into the ring, with a steel chair, where he joined Knight. That led to Paul and Haliburton leaving the ring. Knight posed with Brunson to cheers.

There was no physicality between Haliburton and Brunson perhaps because they are both paid very well by their NBA teams, so it makes sense to not risk injury by taking bumps in a World Wrestling Entertainment ring.

Jalen Brunson Lived Out His Childhood Dream Being On WWE SmackDown

On Twitter/X, Brunson said he lived out a childhood dream by being part of a WWE show.

Brunson also posed for a photo with WWE’s Chief Content Officer Triple H.

As for Haliburton, he was at Raw on Monday in Indianapolis and Smackdown on Friday in MSG. Haliburton is a lifelong WWE fan who could certainly be part of more WWE events in the future.