When WWE was in Manhattan’s iconic Madison Square Garden for SmackDown on June 28 last summer, they ran an angle featuring NBA stars Tyrese Haliburton and Jalen Brunson during the Money in the Bank qualifying match between Logan Paul, LA Knight & Santos Escobar.

As you undoubtedly know if you’re a basketball fan, Haliburton’s Indiana Pacers will face Brunson’s New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals round of this year’s NBA Playoffs. But even if you’re a WWE fan who has no interest in athletic competitions without pre-determined outcomes, you should know about the Knicks/Pacers series by now. WWE’s been doing their best to make sure you do… and how they foreshadowed it at the Garden almost a year ago.

They also released a highlight clip dedicated just to the two All-Star guards’ involvement in last June’s MSG show. Nice foreshadowing by Haliburton with an “I’ll be back” at the 3:30 mark; he’ll lead the Pacers into the Garden tomorrow night (May 21) for Game 1 of a series that will determine who heads to the Finals for a chance to win the NBA title.

Their merch has also been prominently placed on WWE Shop.

Last night (May 19), the Indiana star made his latest WWE appearance on Raw. Haliburton was on the show to announce that he’ll be part of an upcoming WWE 2K25 DLC pack, the “Dunk & Destruction” pack coming out on June 25, to be specific.

His character is packaged with Abyss, The Great Khali, and two NBA stars that will be announced later. If one of them isn’t Brunson, his people must drive a hard bargain.

The Olympic gold medalist* also talked Knicks/Pacers, comparing their rivalry — which was a huge deal in the 1990s and has been renewed in recent years by Haliburton and Brunson’s squads — to one of wrestling’s greatest:

“It’s like Rock-Austin almost. Fans love this stuff. I’m excited to be part of it. Last year, I don’t think I knew necessarily what I was getting into, I knew it was going to be a competitive series. now, understanding the hatred between the fanbases and how serious of a rivalry this is, it’s a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to playing against these guys again. It’s going to be a fun series. I’m ready.”

Haliburton’s night continued when he joined Sam Roberts and Megan Morant on Raw Recap. There, he downgraded his wrestling feud comparison a bit as an acknowledgement that the Knicks and Pacers need to do more than just hate each other before they can claim Stone Cold Steve Austin and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson status:

“Here’s the thing is we are two young teams who haven’t won in a very long time, right? To me, it feels it’s more like the NXT rivalry or Intercontinental Championship bout because it’s two guys who haven’t really proven that they can be a top guy yet so, that to me kind of makes me feel like it’s NXT — I’m thinking like Bron Breakker/Carmelo Hayes. That’s kind of where my mind is.

“But I’m definitely thinking younger guys that wanna get to the mountain top because they haven’t won a championship since the 70s. Pacers have never won an NBA Championship. So, I don’t wanna say there’s a changing of the guard in our league right now but, the four teams that are left, they’re a lot of young players and so that’s exciting time for our league.

“So I like to think more of that route than I would tell you, like, Cody [Rhodes]/Roman [Reigns] because if I thought Cody/Roman, I’m thinking Steph [Curry]/LeBron [James]. I’m thinking the guys are established and doing it.”

He also talked about his past WWE appearances, and how he loved being the heel opposite Brunson on SmackDown last year. A lifelong wrestling fan. Haliburton hopes there are more opportunities to get involved in WWE storylines in the future. It will remain non-physical, however: “I would love to take a bump or something but obviously, the league is not going for that… They are not letting that happen.”

Maybe after he retires? It seems WWE loving doing business with him…

* Hey, Tyrese didn’t get on the floor much, but he deserves the gold for this tweet alone.