Who is Wally Szczerbiak?: All you need to know about the former NBA All-Star who got in hot water for comments on Tyrese Haliburton

NBA veteran Wally Szczerbiak recently found himself in some hot water when he took aim at Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton. The New York Knicks held on to a three-point lead to clinch a win over the Pacers on December 18, thanks to Haliburton missing a potential game-tying 3-pointer. After the game, one-time All-Star Wally Szczerbiak took some shots at Haliburton.

It seemingly came out of left field, given that Haliburton is currently in the middle of a breakout season that has seen him average career highs across the board. In addition to leading the league in assists, Haliburton has continued to help carry the Pacers in the Eastern Conference, as the team looks to make the playoffs.

In their showdown against the Knicks, Haliburton posted a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Despite that, he seemed to struggle, going just 5-16 from the field and 2-6 from three. That's where Szczerbiak found an opportunity to take shots at the budding young star.

"Mr. Supposed, wanna-be, fake All-Star with the big miss there. Last chance, down [three points] for the wanna-be All-Star. He's in his second year, he's a very good player [but] he's not going to make the All-Star team."

You can see his comments in the video above.

Tyrese Haliburton responds, doesn't know much about Wally Szczerbiak's NBA career

When Tyrese Haliburton caught wind of Szczerbiak's comments, he had quite a hilarious response. According to him, he wasn't entirely sure who Szczerbiak even was. While he knew that he played in the NBA, he couldn't recall what team he played for. He also couldn't name any of Szczerbiak's accomplishments.

Szczerbiak, of course, was the sixth overall pick in the 1999 draft that saw Elton Brand selected as the first overall pick by the Chicago Bulls. Throughout the course of his career, he earned one All-Star selection during his time with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

He proved himself as a lethal three-point shooter throughout his career. While spending seven seasons with the Timberwolves where he averaged a career-high 20.1 points during the 2005-06 season. Despite that, injuries plagued him infrequently. After he left Minnesota, he spent two years with the Celtics where he played in just 32 games per season before a brief stint in Seattle.

After another injury-plagued season in 2007-08 with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he then appeared in 74 games for the Cavs in his final season before retiring.

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Tyrese Haliburton weighs in on Wally Szczerbiak's criticism

As Haliburton went on to explain, he wasn't quite sure why Wally Szczerbiak targeted him in the first place with criticism about being an All-Star hopeful. The way he sees things, it just comes down to the media these days. He responded during an interview with Taylor Rooks, saying:

"He had a lot to say about me. I was really questioning at first like 'Who is this?' and 'why is he talking about me like this?'" Haliburton said. "I don't know if I ever came out and said, 'I want to be an All-Star this year! Please vote for me!' I think he was just excited about a Knicks win and that got him going, but he's just doing whatever he can to get attention"

You can see footage of Wally Szczerbiak's apology below.

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