Jalen Brunson vs. Tyrese Haliburton in the ring? Knicks, Pacers stars to face off at MSG on WWE SmackDown

WWE events at Madison Square Garden are always a sight to behold, and Friday’s SmackDown live taping was no exception. In fact, there was a crossover moment between New York Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson and Indiana Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton that NBA fans won’t soon forget.

In recent days, Haliburton has been vocal about his involvement with WWE. He was in Indianapolis for Monday Night Raw and even debuted a new shirt in honor of Indiana’s announcement that over the next seven years it will host three of WWE’s biggest premium live events – the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania and SummerSlam.

So it was no surprise that Haliburton, whose Pacers defeated the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals several weeks ago, was present for SmackDown. The real surprise was that Brunson was there to greet him and eventually face him. Brunson was initially shown in the crowd enjoying the show, while Haliburton was making his entrance with YouTuber and WWE United States Champion Logan Paul to draw heat from the New York crowd.

it worked.

The newly-minted rivals continued to stare at each other during a Money in the Bank qualifying match between Paul, LA Knight and Santos Escobar. Haliburton attempted to help Paul with a pair of brass knuckles, but Brunson – always the hero in New York – jumped the barricade to prevent him from interfering.

After Paul’s match was over, Haliburton continued to taunt the crowd and threatened Knight with a weapon, but Brunson stepped into the squared circle with a steel chair and evened up the two sides. Brunson and Knight took out Haliburton and Paul and helped the Knicks defend their Madison Square Garden homecourt honor.

As the heel duo headed backstage, Haliburton continued to tease the crowd, saying, “You already know I’m the best. I’ll be back.” Meanwhile, Brunson – steel chair in hand – celebrated with his new partner in front of a raucous crowd.

While it’s unlikely that Brunson and Haliburton will rekindle their rivalry in a formal match – as Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman once did in WCW – it was clear there was no love lost between the two rising superstars.

Although the Pacers beat the underdog Knicks in the semifinals, they lost to the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics; however, the pain of that series loss still lingers in New York. Either way, it’s clear these two have some unfinished business that needs to be settled either on the court or in the ring. Hopefully the latter gets done.