2024 NBA Playoffs – Indiana Pacers v Milwaukee Bucks
Indiana Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton said that during Game 1 in Milwaukee last weekend, a fan used a racial slur against his younger brother.
“My little brother in the stands the other day was called an N-word,” Haliburton said after the Pacers win Tuesday night, via the Associated Press. “It was important for us as a family to just address that. That was important for us to talk about because that didn’t sit right with anybody in our family. It’s just been important to have my family here right now, and my little brother’s handled that the right way.”
Haliburton is an Oshkosh, Wisconsin, native — about 90 miles from Milwaukee — and had a lot of family in attendance for the first two games in Milwaukee, part of their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.
The Bucks made this comment about the incident when asked, again via the Associated Press.
“An arena guest services representative reported that during Sunday’s game a few guests were not sitting in their correct seats. The guest services representative asked the group to move one section over to their correct seats. Then, one of the individuals in the group claimed to the representative that a person sitting in front of him had used a derogatory term toward him. The accused person denied the accusation. The group moved to their correct seats and no further incident was reported.
“We take our fan environment extremely seriously and are committed to providing a safe and secure experience.”
This is not the first reported incident between fans and players in Milwaukee. In 2022, Russell Westbrook — then with the Lakers — got into it with a fan in the stands at the game. A few weeks later, Warriors Draymond Green had a fan ejected from the game after Green said the fan threatened his life.
The 1-1 series moves on to Indiana for Games 3 and 4 this weekend, but will return to Milwaukee for Game 5 next Tuesday, April 30.
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