Former NBA champion Matt Barnes was not thrilled with Wally Szczerbiak calling Tyrese Haliburton a ‘Wannabe All-Star’ earlier this week.
The former NBA player dropped an NSFW rant calling out the former Minnesota star for his comments. Barnes called the 2001-02 All-Star a “bum-ass motherf–ker” who he said disrespected Haliburton.
“I don’t see why former players feel like it’s their spot…to disrespect these guys,” Barnes said on the ShoBasketball podcast. “To me, that shit is super weak, I don’t like it, there’s been 5,000 players in the history of the NBA, and that’s why it bothers me when former players have to shit on the younger players…guys can respect and understand how hard it is for these guys to make their way…if you know the game well enough, you can talk about plenty of other shit.”
When Haliburton found out about Wally’s comments, he said he was surprised to hear such a pointed critique, in part because he hasn’t been lobbying for an All-Star nod.
In the meantime, Wally has apologized and said the 22-year-old guard “is definitely in the All-Star conversation.”
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“I want to apologize personally to Tyrese Haliburton,” Szczerbiak said in the New York Knicks’ pregame show last night. “He’s a wonderful young player, he’s definitely in the All-Star conversation along with guys like Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson.”
So far this year, Haliburton is averaging 20.0 points and a league-high 10.6 assists through 30 games this season. He is a huge reason why the Pacers have a 17-16 record and are in the thick of things in the playoff race.
Szczerbiak is a veteran of ten seasons with four different teams. He was an All-Star during the 2001-02 season with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and now provides color analysis for the Knicks on MSG Network.
