50 Cent Played Tyrese Haliburton's Wedding for Free. The Other Quote Was $750K for 30 Minutes, Not a “Quarter Mil.”

We went through the Boardroom interview minute by minute. Here is exactly what the Pacers star said about the price tags, the artist who ghosted him, and the guest who turned into the entertainment.

Tyrese Haliburton got married on Saturday, August 1, and the entertainment was 50 Cent. That part went viral the next day. What nobody knew until this month is what it cost him: nothing. And the reason 50 ended up on that stage is that the going rate for a half hour from another artist was $750,000.

Haliburton told the story to Speedy Morman on Boardroom Talks, in an episode that premiered on YouTube on Monday, September 21. The whole wedding section runs about four minutes, from 6:16 to roughly 9:58. We pulled the full caption track for the episode, so every quote below comes with a timestamp you can check yourself.

Boardroom Talks with Tyrese Haliburton, cued to 6:16, where Speedy Morman asks about 50 Cent performing at the wedding.

The number, straight from the tape

Haliburton explains that 50 was originally coming as a guest, and that the two of them were shopping for a performer together. His thinking was simple: if 50 was in the room and one of his songs came on, he would probably jump on the mic anyway. Then the quotes started coming back.

Tyrese Haliburton: "Prices is kind of crazy. I was not prepared for that." (at 6:46)

Speedy Morman: "What are people talking these days for a performance?"

Tyrese Haliburton: "30 minutes. 750 bands. 30 minutes." (at 6:51)

"Bands" means thousands, so $750,000 for half an hour. Morman's reply was "You're lying." Haliburton: "I swear, bro." A little later he makes it clear this was not one outlier: "I ain't going to say who was trying to whack me 750,000, but there was a few artists that were trying to go there" (at 7:25).

Which brings us to the headline problem. At least one radio-network story ran with "Other Rappers Tried To Charge A Quarter Mil," while its own body text said $750,000. A quarter million is $250,000. That figure is not in the interview. The only "quarter" anywhere in the conversation arrives at 11:54, when Morman describes Haliburton's five-year, $244 million contract as "almost a quarter of a billion dollars." It is also worth being precise on two more points some coverage blurred: Haliburton said "artists," not rappers, and the $750K was for 30 minutes, not "the night."

The DM that got him left on read

The best detail in the whole segment is one most write-ups skipped. Haliburton says he tried to go around the agency route and message one artist directly. The artist was warm: big fan, would love to, let's get dinner next time you're in town. Then came the manager's number, and then the number.

Tyrese Haliburton: "And then they were like, '750.' [...] So I hit him. I said, 'Hey, man. I can't do that, but if you want, I can pay for the PJ, accommodations, you good. Like, take care of it completely.' He left me on read." (at 8:01)

He never names the artist, and we are not going to guess. He does name his dream list: Ne-Yo or Usher. Usher, he says, does not do weddings, and Ne-Yo was on tour, so both were out before the money conversation started.

How the guest became the headliner

Once Haliburton was ready to skip live music entirely, 50 stepped in.

Tyrese Haliburton: "He's like, 'Nah, I'mma do it, bro. Don't trip.'" (at 8:33)

Speedy Morman: "Did he charge you?"

Tyrese Haliburton: "No. He didn't charge me. I took care of his accommodations, everything. And his love is just, that's like, that's family." (at 9:00)

50 also insisted on staying out of sight so it would land as a surprise, which meant he stopped being a guest at all. Haliburton says he told nobody, and had to quietly stop a few early leavers from heading out before the set. Then 50 walked in with Tony Yayo and company.

The clip everyone saw that weekend was Haliburton on stage leaning into the "I run New York" line from "I Get Money," the Curtis single, which Pacers fans read as a victory lap over the Knicks. Indiana beat New York in the 2024 East semifinals and the 2025 conference finals. Asked about it, Haliburton shrugs it off. He says he jumped on stage for what felt like every song, that the Knicks line going viral was random, and that he was "not thinking about that on my wedding day" (at 9:53).

"I Get Money," the song from the viral wedding clip, as reported by ESPN and Sports Illustrated at the time.

Why 50 was there in the first place

The connection is business before it is friendship. In October 2022 the Pacers announced a multi-year partnership with Curtis Jackson's Sire Spirits and his G-Unity Foundation. It made Branson Cognac and Le Chemin du Roi Champagne official partners, renamed a Gainbridge Fieldhouse club the Sire Spirits '67 Club, and put 50's name on Suite 50. In the interview Haliburton says it the same way: 50's liquor sponsors the team, that is how they met, and it grew from there.

It also explains the "full circle" framing Morman opens with. Before the wedding talk, Haliburton clears up an older viral clip of him congratulating 50 on a residency, flanked by his now-wife and her two best friends. 50's team asked for a private congrats video. Haliburton recorded it late after a game, "a little drunk," and texted it over. 50 thought it was funny, posted it, and by morning it was everywhere. Around 9:10, Haliburton jokes that after 50 posted that clip, he figured 50 owed him one. Consider the debt paid.

As for the wedding itself: Haliburton and Jade Jones, together since his Iowa State days, made it legal at a courthouse in July, then held a private two-night celebration in the Dallas area, "The Night Before" on Friday and the wedding on Saturday, August 1, according to the Pacers beat outlet Fieldhouse Files. One report put the venue at The Olana, an estate north of Dallas. We could not independently confirm that. We also found no post from 50 himself addressing the free set, so for now the account is Haliburton's alone.

50 has had a busy 2026, from turning 51 in July to the OG "Back Down" leak that surfaced the same week as this interview, and he is no stranger to NBA courtside moments. But this might be the cleanest illustration of how he operates. A man who sells cognac to your arena could have named his price and settled for a hotel room instead. You don't get that kind of goodwill back at 30 minutes a pop.