Tyrese Haliburton is one highly paid professional athlete who has turned down the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Indiana Pacers star had been invited by both the Dodgers and Chicago Cubs to throw out a ceremonial first pitch this season and the Wisconsin native opted to accept the pregame honor from the team closer to his Midwestern roots.

Haliburton, a two-time NBA All-Star, will throw out the first pitch before Thursday’s NL Central matchup at Wrigley Field between the Milwaukee Brewers and Cubs.

“I got asked by both, I had to pick one,” Haliburton told Fieldhouse Files reporter Scott Agness. “And the Cubs just made more sense.”

There’s a bit more backstory to Haliburton throwing out the first pitch in a game involving the Brewers. Haliburton was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The Brewers were his hometown MLB team. Yet he accepted an invitation to throw out the first pitch for Milwaukee’s division rival, separated by 90 miles on Interstate 94.

“I’m not really welcome in Wisconsin as much these days,” Haliburton said on “The Pat McAfee Show” on April 30, 2025.

Haliburton claims that the Brewers rescinded an invitation to throw out the first pitch at American Family Field last year after he hit the game-winning shot in overtime to eliminate the Milwaukee Bucks from the first round of the 2025 NBA playoffs.

The Pacers won the series in five games and eventually advanced to the NBA Finals, where they lost in seven games to the Oklahoma City Thunder and Haliburton sustained an Achilles tendon rupture that cost him the 2025-26 season.

After the Brewers apparently rescinded their invitation, Haliburton trolled the team by wearing Cubs and Dodgers jerseys on the sideline during Pacers games last season. He says he’s “a free agent” in terms of fan allegiances.

“I was a Brewers fan and then I was supposed to throw the first pitch last summer, and they X’ed that after the playoff series,” he told McAfee. “So I said, ‘You know what? I’m no longer a Brewers fan.'”

After Thursday’s first pitch, Haliburton will presumably get back to preparing for the 2026-27 NBA season. In the lead-up to the Pacers advancing to the NBA Finals, he averaged 18.6 points and 9.2 assists while shooting 39% on 562 3-point attempts.