Kendrick Perkins calls for NBA to suspend father of Tyrese Haliburton for rest of playoffs after Giannis Antetokounmpo altercation

Kendrick Perkins believes the NBA needs to make an example out of John Haliburton, the father of Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton. Cameras captured the elder Haliburton getting into the face of Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo on Tuesday evening after the Pacers eliminated the Bucks from the playoffs.

The pair met in the moments following the final buzzer, butting heads and exchanging words. Haliburton said after the game his father was not “in the right.”

Perkins addressed the incident during an episode of Pardon the Interruption on ESPN on Wednesday. He said he would not have tolerated that from his family members when he played and called for the NBA to suspend John Haliburton from attending games for the rest of the playoffs.

“I played 14 years in the league,” Perkins said. “I wish my wife or any of my family members would have tried that nonsense. They would have been banned from coming to any games for the rest of my career. Matter fact, I’m gonna go deeper. I believe that Tyrese Haliburton’s father should be suspended for the rest of the postseason. At some point you’ve gotta make an example and he has to be the example.

“No way in hell he should be allowed to walk on the floor and go get up into Giannis Antetokounmpo’s face and do what he did last night. Just sit back from afar and praise him and just be proud dad in the stands. This is a prime example of what some fathers go through. When you go to AAU games they have certain parents who are living their dreams through their children. This was one of the prime examples that we witnessed last night.”

On X account with the name “John Haliburton” under the username @PapaHaliburton made an apology post Wednesday morning. The post called the display “not a good reflection on our sport or my son” and said that he will “not make that mistake again.”

Antetokounmpo also addressed the altercation in his postgame press conference. He said he tries to be humble even in victory and noted his parents don’t sit courtside or near the game.

Antetokounmpo added Haliburton’s father came up to him and talked trash after his son hit the game-winning shot, and he didn’t realize who it was at first. However, he also added that the pair talked afterward and seemingly worked things out.

“Losing a game, emotions run high,” Antetokounmpo said. “Having a fan – which, at the moment, I thought he was a fan and then I realized it was Tyrese’s dad. I love Tyrese. He’s a great competitor. Coming in the floor and showing me his son’s towel and saying, ‘This is what we do. This is what we f’ing do. This is what the eff we do.’ I feel like that’s very, very disrespectful.

“…Coming to me and disrespecting me and cursing at me is totally unacceptable. Totally unacceptable. I’m not a guy that points fingers because in my neighborhood, snitches get stitches. So I don’t want to say something for him to get fined or anything, but it’s not respectful. I talked with him at the end, and I think we’re in a good place.”

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.