Tyrese Haliburton found a way to turn a 49ers jersey into a joke with a twist.
On Saturday morning, Bleacher Report posted video from Haliburton’s latest stream, and the Indiana Pacers guard was wearing a No. 7 San Francisco 49ers jersey.
But the name on the back wasn’t Colin Kaepernick’s. It said Love.
On the stream, Haliburton could be heard explaining that Love didn’t play last night because he was on IR.
"He didn't play last night, he on IR," Haliburton said.
The joke landed because Daejon Labrayae Love is not actually a 49ers player. He is currently in federal custody. Haliburton’s latest trolling moment came on the heels of the 49ers opening the 2026 NFL season with a 27-7 win over the Los Angeles Rams at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Love’s name has surfaced in a very different kind of story. Last month, according to Justice.gov, two men were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud: Love, who is 35, and Taylor Jamie Chan, who is 18. The charges were filed by a criminal in Portland, Oregon.
Per court documents, the two set up fake investments in February of 2002 with the goal of defrauding women in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and California. Love met many of the victims through a dating app, while Chan posed as Love’s financial advisor in an effort to win trust and make the scheme look legitimate.
The pair allegedly kept asking for money through lies and misrepresentation until they were arrested earlier this year. Authorities say Love built different identities and used a flashy lifestyle to sell the scam to 26 victims, in person and online. He also pretended to be a San Francisco 49ers wide receiver or a real estate investor.
Financial records showed that Chan and Love took $1.3 million from their victims during the more than four-year scheme. The two were ultimately apprehended at Boise Airport after officials learned Chan would fly from California to Boise.
Haliburton’s 49ers connection also goes beyond the jersey bit. He and Brock Purdy were at Iowa State at the same time, with Purdy playing football for the Cyclones and Haliburton on the basketball team. They were roommates during their freshman year.
"I have. It was more of a, 'Congrats on a good season!'
type of thing," Purdy said when asked by Rich Eisen about his relationship with Haliburton. "[I'm] praying for him, man.
After his injury in Game 7, it was tough to watch.
"But, I'm so proud of him. After the playoff run he had, all of us Iowa State guys, we've known that Tyrese had the it-factor going back to college.
To see him doing this on a national level, at the highest level, in the NBA, man, it's pretty remarkable. His playoff run, the season he had, I couldn't be any happier for him."
Before Super Bowl LVIII, Haliburton made it clear where he stood with the 49ers and with his old roommate.
“That's somebody I can really call a friend,” Haliburton said. “To see what he's doing and succeeding the way he is, that's really cool to see, especially being from Iowa State, where it's not a school that's expected to have this much success at the professional level in any sport.
“It's cool to see my brother do well. From the moment that he started out, I was showing him nothing but love.”
In Other News...
Pacers Preseason Hinges On One Massive Haliburton Question
The Pacers are heading into preseason with their biggest storyline still tied to Tyrese Haliburtons health, and it is hard to overstate how much of their early season planning flows from his recovery from an Achilles tendon injury suffered in the previous NBA Finals. Indianapolis has spent the summer navigating the same uncomfortable reality that now follows several star guards who have faced similar injuries: there is no clean timetable, no easy shortcut, and no certainty about how quickly a player can return to the pace and explosiveness that made him central to everything Indiana wanted to do.
For a team that leans so heavily on Haliburtons creation, the uncertainty puts added pressure on the rest of the roster, especially a bench that already looked like an area to monitor before the injury news. The Pacers may need someone deeper on the roster to emerge sooner than expected, because preseason is no longer just about ramping up for opening night. It is about finding out who can steady the group if Haliburtons return takes longer, and whether Indiana has enough surprise help waiting behind its top names to keep the season from getting away early. [Read more 🡒]