Charles Barkley had great line about Tyrese Haliburton’s strong play

Leave it to Charles Barkley to pay one player a high compliment while savagely mocking another all in the same sentence.

TNT and ESPN both had TV sets in place for coverage of the NBA In-Season Tournament semifinals in Las Vegas on Thursday night. That led to some entertaining moments between the talent for the two networks, one of which came when Barkley joked about a conversation he had (but didn’t actually have) with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Barkley said Wojnarowski told him that Tyrese Haliburton has played so well early in the season that James Harden wants to be traded to the Indiana Pacers.

“I was talking to Woj … Woj said Haliburton is playing so good, James Harden wanted to be traded to Indiana,” Barkley said.

Haliburton is playing at an MVP level in the early part of the season. The 23-year-old is averaging 26.9 points and 12.1 assists per game. He scored 27 points to lead the Pacers to a win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night. Indiana will take on the Los Angeles Lakers in the In-Season Tournament championship on Saturday.

Wojnarowski reported on Thursday that Haliburton is trying to make a big recruiting pitch to fellow NBA stars. Harden, of course, has forced trades from three different teams. Barkley was joking that Harden may try to make Indiana his next stop.

That was not the only funny moment Barkley enjoyed while messing with the ESPN crew.