Tyrese Haliburton ups the ante on burgeoning Orlando Magic rivalry

It is kind of hard not to like Tyrese Haliburton.

He was a player who embraced playing for the Sacramento Kings and starred for them before his surprising trade to the Indiana Pacers. But he embraced another small market and transformed the Pacers into a playoff contender with an entertaining style of play.

He is someone who is not afraid to make a joke—showing off his 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal with the caption, "When you ain’t do nun on the group project and still get an A." He is also not someone afraid to show off, pointing to his wrist after hitting a big shot against the Milwaukee Bucks in the In-Season Tournament semifinals.

Haliburton is the kind of entertaining, magnanimous star that the NBA needs as it hands off the baton to a new generation. And he has the kind of personality that catches the eye of another brand in sports entertainment.

Haliburton has not yet made his in-ring debut, but he has shown up on WWE a few times, notably getting into a stare down with Jalen Brunson when WWE visited Madison Square Garden a few months ago. He has been spotted with a WWE championship belt before.

So it would make sense that Haliburton could be a central figure in Tuesday's episode of NXT, the WWE's developmental brand that tapes its episodes at the WWE Performance Center in Winter Park, Fla.

It would also make sense that if Haliburton was playing the heel, he might do something a bit heelish.

Before he announced CM Punk would be the special guest referee for the NXT championship match between challenger Trick Williams (who showed up with the NXT Championship belt at a Magic playoff game in April) and champion Ethan Page, Tyrese Haliburton got a quick dig in at the hometown team for a cheap pop.

He may have no idea what he just started.

Those are indeed some fighting words. The fact Haliburton had to show up in Orlando with his Indiana Pacers teammates probably says all that needs to be said about his safety in Orlando.

As of noon on Wednesday, there has been no online response from any Magic players. It is not entirely clear if any Magic fans are big wrestling fans (Terrence Ross famously ran the ropes in the Thunderdome when it was at the Kia Center).

This is some cheap heat—an easy way for a bad guy to get the crowd to boo him. But there is something there. Something is simmering underneath the surface between these two teams.

The Magic and Pacers could be among the best burgeoning rivalries in the NBA. And a little chatter would go pretty far to increasing its profile and making these games feel bigger.

The Magic won the season series in 2024

This is not the first time Tyrese Haliburton has had some choice words for the Orlando Magic either.

The Orlando Magic won their season with the Indiana Pacers last year 2-1, defeating the Pacers twice at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Those wins proved critical since the Magic and Pacers each had 47 wins last season. Orlando earned the 5-seed because of winning that season series.

The Indiana Pacers may not have minded as they defeated the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round and then outlasted the New York Knicks to reach the Eastern Conference Finals.

Those two wins by the Magic though established a prety strong storyline. It gave the Pacers something to stew on as the Magic won in dominant fashion on the road.

When Orlando rolled into Indianapolis in November, the team had the top-rated defense in the league going up against the team with the best offense in the league.

The Magic's defense won the day, winning 128-116. And the final score was not indicative of how much the Magic dominated, leading by as much as 40 points in the win.

The game took place during the early part of the In-Season Tournament. As the Pacers awaited who they would face in the knockout round, Haliburton specifically called out the Orlando Magic as a team "they owed one to" after this game, hoping they would outlast the Boston Celtics to win their group.

That did not happen. But nearly a month later on Dec. 23, the Magic rolled into Indianapolis again and thumped the Pacers one more time, winning 117-110, leading by as much as 15 to clinch the season series.

Banchero had 24 points in the first meeting (in nearly 27 minutes) and 34 in the second meeting. The Magic's physicality and defense threw the Pacers off their game. Haliburton scored only 12 points and had four turnovers in the first meeting, but rebounded for 29 points and 15 assists in the second meeting.

The Magic and Pacers figure to compete for years to come

That tells only part of the story though. The two games the Orlando Magic won happened before the Indiana Pacers acquired Pascal Siakam.

They played only once after that with the Pacers taking a dominant 111-97 win at the Kia Center in March. Notably, though, Jalen Suggs did not play in that game. And he makes a big difference.

According to data from NBA.com, Tyrese Haliburton failed to score when Jalen Suggs was his primary matchup, missing all three of his shots. Of course, they only logged matchup time in one of the three games (the first game when the Magic essentially shut Haliburton out).

Gary Harris got the primary responsibility of defending Tyrese Haliburton throughout their season series and had success—seven points, 67 team points, 11 assists and 2-for-9 shooting in 11:30 matchup minutes according to NBA.com.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will give the Magic another strong defender to throw at him. Orlando seems perfectly suited to handle the Pacers' blistering offense.

Still, Orlando has not faced Indiana much since they acquired Siakam. Indiana was a different team with him and have big ambitions in their first full season with the former All-Star.

And the Pacers played most of the season without Bennedict Mathurin too. Next year's matchups will be very different.

This is a very good Pacers team who matched the Magic's record last year. These two teams are young, hungry to climb the playoff rankings and have plenty of belief they can do so.

If styles make fights, the Magic's physical defense against the Pacers' fast-paced offense has made for some great clashes already. And these are two teams that are going to see each other a lot this season.

Certainly, the Pacers should be a team everyone has circled on their calendars this season. These teams will face each other three times early in the season. Indiana comes to the Kia Center early in the season on Oct. 28, followed by a quick return trip on Nov. 6 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse and another quick matchup a week later at Kia Center on Nov. 13.

These teams will be able to fester on Haliburton's promo pretty early in the season.

But the big game between these two teams takes place on April 11 in Indianapolis, the penultimate game of the season. If the Eastern Conference is as tight as it was last year, that game against the Pacers late in the season will have a lot on the line and could determine whether the Magic accomplish their goal of earning homecourt advantage.

Games between the Magic and the Pacers will have some major impacts throughout the rest of the conference. And this is going to be a big rival for the Magic moving forward.

Haliburton is only poking the bear for a cheap pop it would seem.