Fans and former players back Haliburton on Wally Szczerbiak’s questionable comments

What happened?? Tyrese Haliburton is one of the nicest players in the NBA, and yet a current color analyst for the New York Knicks, Wally Szczerbiak, went after the former Cyclone.

He seemed a bit worked up, especially with no previous beef between him and Haliburton. After the game, Szczerbiak had more to say about Haliburton.

“He’s a very good player, he’s not going to make the All-Star team,” Szczerbiak said. “A guy like Julius Randle or Jalen Brunson will make it over Tyrese Haliburton. Tonight we saw why.”

Now, why is a Knicks media member so worked up about Tyrese Haliburton? It goes all the way back to the 2020 NBA Draft. On draft night, the Knicks had the 8th overall pick and selected Obi Toppin. In the 2022-23 season, Toppin is averaging 7 points, 3 rebounds, and has been injured as well. That is not exactly what you want from a guy you drafted inside the top 10.

Four picks later, Haliburton was selected by the Kings and has emerged as a potential All-Star in his third year in the league. Hence the current problem at hand. For the most part, the national media is all over the Knicks and how they play Madison Square Garden and on the road. So when the Knicks continued their draft woes and missed an opportunity to draft their franchise point guard, the media rightly mocked them.

Since the 2020 draft and finally signing “their point guard for the future” Jalen Brunson (this past offseason) the Knicks have had these players play point guard instead of Haliburton: Frank Ntilikina, Dennis Smith Jr., Elfrid Payton, Derrick Rose, Ryan Arcidiacono, Immanuel Quickley, and Kemba Walker. They are not exactly guys who can bring a title home for the Knicks.

Now back to the present. Haliburton recently had an interview with Taylor Rooks, a sports journalist for Turner Sports and Bleacher Report. He responded to the comments Szczerbiak made about him.

Both fans and former NBA player Matt Barnes quickly sided with Tyrese Haliburton and thought Szczerbiak’s attack was unnecessary.

With quite a bit of backlash in the past few days, Wally Szczerbiak apologized for his comments about Tyrese but made sure to mention how Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle were still at Haliburton’s level.

In the first game after the comments from Szczerbiak, Haliburton dropped 33 points, 8 assists, and 6 three-pointers in a 117-112 win over the Celtics. Not too bad.....not too bad at all.