Tyrese Haliburton is officially engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Jade Jones, but the big day didn't come without plenty of stress. The Indiana Pacers point guard admitted the proposal had every chance to go sideways before it finally turned into the perfect moment.
Hali proposed to the former college cheerleader last month on the basketball court of their Alma Mater, Iowa State University, where they first met. The setting was perfect, however, the circumstances not so much, as Hali is still recovering from a torn right achilles tendon injury.
Tyrese Haliburton opens up about stress-filled proposal to Jade Jones
The NBA star was unable to walk out onto the basketball court, which he used to star on, and instead had to wheel himself out on a scooter.
"It's obviously hard to get up," he admitted to WWE star Logan Paul on the "Impaulsive" podcast on Wednesday, August 27.
On top of that, he was worried that the couple's friends and family were going to ruin the surprise he had been planning for months.
"I wasn't nervous leading up to it, it was just I brought all her friends and family and I disguised the event. I got a gold medal banner in my college arena, so I disguised it as this is a party to celebrate that, so she thought all her friends and family were coming to that," he said.
"I forgot who I had told and who I didn't tell, so we all went to lunch before. I could not eat because of the thought of somebody saying some dumb s***," he added. "So like all day I'm panicking and then we get there and I'm like it's gonna go smooth I just don't want her to find out."
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When the big moment finally arrived without anyone ruining it, Haliburton said he "blacked out" and has no idea what he even said to his now-fiancee.
Luckily the moment was recorded for the Netflix documentary"Starting 5," so he'll eventually get to see the moment replayed.
If the nerves weren't already high enough, the Pacers star revealed that Jones was putting the pressure on him about proposing just minutes before he popped the question.
"Ten minutes before we left for the arena, she was on my a** about not proposing. She was like this would've been the perfect weekend to propose," he said, adding that Jones said she "really thought" he was going to ask her to marry him that day.
"I've been avoiding those conversations like the plague," Haliburton admitted. "I was like, listen, I'm not f------ proposing to you with a boot on, leave me alone. You could kind of see her like becoming defeated."
Despite all the chaos, Haliburton pulled it off. The proposal went off without a hitch, despite the physical challenges he's still contending with due to his achilles recovery.
The NBA star says he's known that he was going to marry Jones for a long time.
"I've known for a while that she's the one," he said, adding that' it's a really exciting time in his life.
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