"It's that damn cannabis behind me" - Shaquille O'Neal hilariously swaps Tyrese Haliburton's name with Trae Young's

The Indiana Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton joined TNT’s Inside the NBA panel after leading his team to the In-Season tournament's final. During that post-match interview, Shaquille O’Neal made a mess of things when he mistook Haliburton for Trae Young before blaming it on the cannabis from the crowd behind him.

Luckily for O'Neal, the show's host, Ernie Johnson, came to the rescue and corrected him. The TNT crew was interviewing Haliburton after he led the Pacers with 27 points and 15 assists in the 128–119 upset over the Milwaukee Bucks.

“I don’t get to see you play a lot. It was a joy watching you today,” O’Neal said to Haliburton. “I came in the green room, and I told Kenny, I said Kenny, Trae is the real deal."

“So is Tyrese,” Ernie Johnson quipped back, realizing O’Neal’s blunder.

"I mean Tyrese, excuse me. Ernie, it ain’t me. It’s that damn cannabis behind me,” O’Neal said, heaping the blame on the Las Vegas crowd behind him, the panel erupted in laughter.

Haliburton has come into his own after he was swapped with Domantas Sabonis in a February 2022 trade. The 6-foot-5 playmaker is averaging over 20 points and 10 assists per game.

Tyrese Haliburton's Indiana Pacers will play the LA Lakers in the In-Season Tournament final

After defeating the Milwaukee Bucks and qualifying for the NBA In-Season Tournament championship game, Indiana will now face another juggernaut, the LA Lakers.

The two teams will clash in the first In-Season Tournament Finals on Saturday. Indiana has what it takes to take on LeBron James and company, as they've already shown. In addition to the Bucks, they also defeated the Boston Celtics on Monday, another championship contender.

It is only fitting that the young team will face off against the best player of this era, LeBron James. The Lakers have a 14-9 record while the Pacers are 12-8 and the two teams have not played each other this season.

For the Indiana Pacers to win this game, they will have to defend not only LeBron James but also Anthony Davis. In addition, they will need to lean into their strengths, scoring and young legs. Getting into transition and sharp shooting will be critical.