8:21 pm: ESPN’s Lisa Salters spoke to Haliburton’s father prior to the end of the first half and he confirmed that his son suffered an Achilles injury (Twitter video link).
The team will likely be conducting more tests to confirm the diagnosis, but if it’s an Achilles tear for Haliburton, it could cost him the entire 2025/26 season.
7:50 pm: Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton has exited Game 7 of the NBA Finals in the first quarter after sustaining a right lower leg injury (Twitter video link via ESPN). He won’t return to the game, according to the team.
With just over five minutes left in the first quarter on Sunday, Haliburton caught a pass outside the three-point line and made a move to drive toward the Thunder’s basket. However, his right leg gave way as he pushed off and he fell to the court, where he shouted in frustration and banged his fist against the floor. He was unable to put any weight on the leg as he was helped off the court.
Haliburton had been playing through a right calf strain that he suffered in Game 5 of the series. The injury likely would have sidelined him for multiple weeks had it occurred during the regular season, but he was determined to play through it and was able to finish out Game 5 and compete in Game 6 without any setbacks.
Playing through a calf strain generally increases the risk of suffering a major Achilles injury (ie. a tear) — that happened to Kevin Durant when he attempted to return early from a strained calf in the 2019 NBA Finals.
We don’t know that Haliburton injured his Achilles tonight and we’ll obviously be hoping for a best-case scenario, but video of the play and the guard’s reaction suggest the injury is a significant one, affecting that lower part of his right leg.
An All-NBA third-teamer during the regular season, Haliburton has made several huge game-winning shots for the Pacers during the playoffs, leading the way for the upstart club as it pulled off multiple upsets in the Eastern Conference bracket and pushed the 68-win Thunder to a Game 7 in Oklahoma City. If Indiana is going to win its first NBA championship on Sunday, the team will have to do it without its starting point guard.
Hoping for the best. Hate to see significant injuries. Just makes you cringe and feel bad for the player big time.
You could definitely see the little movement in his calf the moment it was compromised on the push off.
It looked like a bulge, whereas KD‘s Achilles tear looked like a rubber band snapping and quivering or retracting in his calf area after being severed.
Halliburton’s just looked like a small bulge occurred.
Not sure what that means but that’s what I saw.
Again hoping for the best !!!
Ruptured and balled up.
Sad to hear. I was driving home from the gym and listening to it on ESPN radio and, as it happened in real time, as they said he went down, then said he slapped the floor, knowing he was coming off the calf injury I (unfortunately) knew immediately he blew out his Achilles – and he obviously knew it, too.
Just suddenly driving down the street disappointed and bummed for the young man.
Trying to play thru something that he would be sitting out for if it were the regular season…
This was the known risk, sadly they were just hoping to get them through this 1 game so he could rest in the off season. The calf is no joke all the treatment in the world does not really let it heal much.
It was confirmed Achilles
The father confirmed it was an achiles in an interview before halftime of game 7. Prayers up
Achilles? Out all next season? That hurts big time. All he wanted to do was be there for his teammates. Major kudos to Tyrese Halliburton.
They just said achilles……. same thing as KD.
Played with a bad calf then ruptured his achilles.
Sucks lols ….
Can’t believe they are up …
I don’t know if calf injuries lead to Achilles tears since it looked like Tyrese slipped when he tried to run past
Ithink Thunder are more shocked than Pacers right now. They are just playing. Pacers are playing with more intensity. Thunder better wake up.
Pacers need someone to go off ……. Obi1 , Mathurin, Siakam , Nesmith they need one of them to put the cape on …….
Best thoughts and prayers to Hali. What an incredible run through the playoffs, wasn’t the star every game but definitely moved up a tier on my NBA Star chart
100% rooting for TJ to take this game over and bring a chip to Indy
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck
That’s a tear, we’ve seen it too often in recent years to where a regular fan should know exactly what it looks like.
How does this effect the Pacers 25/26 plans now Hali won’t be in the NBA until like 2027?
This is what happens when these players are forced to play hurt, so a bunch of nerds on social media will shut up.
No one was forced to play hurt. Haliburton is a grown man who knew the risks and wanted to take them.
Dude… another one? 3 torn this playoffs? And Dejounte earlier this year and Isiah Jackson too.
Wiseman n Kyrie
Kyrie was an ACL
Someone called it
Risked calf injury turning into Achilles and boom it happened.
Sad. High stakes high rewards but high risk too
That reminds me …….. looking my buds
TOVs are killing Pacers ….. need more ball movement on offense. Can’t let this get away
McConnell is having a ridiculous, dare I say, historic game 7 quarter.
Prayers up to Ty man 🙏.
In a long term view, this might take Pacers out of the race next year. East is even more wide open now that KD is back in the west.
Cavs have trade rumors of Garland/allen
Pacers aren’t the same with Siakam carrying
Knicks will be back the same
Celtics are cooked with no Tatum
Magic will be good
Bucks are cooked with all the Gianni’s drama and no dame
Could Heat be a top 4 seed next year?
Sucks for Pacers. But they can sign Schroder. At least a playoff team. Yeah I agree East is wide open next year. Philly is back in it too
You right. Schroder would be perfect for Indy…
With TJM and Nembhard, why do they need another pg?
Looks like Miami now wishes they got KD after this recent injury. The East wide open. Let’s go Knicks!!!!! The time better come next year no more EXCUSES!!!!
Knicks, Pistons, Magic, Cavs
Refs handed 7-10 pts to OKC. So funny to see SDA try to get fouled, then realize they aren’t being baited and make an awkward jump pass.
Wonder how many IN tuenovers were just arm slaps they didn’t call.
Caruso is such a cringey player to watch.
Man tell it. Chet is that tall they rather go iso when they face full coverage defense. Like run an alley hoop for Chet! Same for pacers they run nothing for Turner! Very hard to watch.
Horrible. This is why I say screw all the people who demand players play through injury, especially when it comes to calves and hamstrings. Not that it factored in here, but this is Exhibit A of the potential ramifications: an entire season lost on top of the now likely loss. Can’t get any worse for a player. But people tend to only focus on the outcomes they want, not the outcomes as they generally are.
Feel especially terrible for Haliburton given the circumstances. The injury itself is bad enough, but you also know it occured in a final do-0r-die game that was tight for 2.5 quarters and you only needed to make it through three more quarters to get to the other side. Any solace he can take from knowing he gave it his all will likely pale in comparison to the reality of what this means for himself and the Pacers next season, at least in the short and medium term. This isn’t some cheesy sports movie where you go “At least I know I did my best” and look off into the distance with steely eyes. But hopefully he does eventually get to the point where he doesn’t blame himself for the injury or the resulting fallout.
I recall someone demanding Curry to play through his injury and then blaming Curry since playoff Jimmy didnt happen.
East will be really wide open. Knicks and Magic are almost assured of Top 4 finishes. Cavs can be questionable with their Tax issue. Celtics can be good but it depends on who returns and how they also manage the Tax. Bucks are bad just because of Doc lmao.
Siakam and TJ can will their team right? Or will it be excuses?
Quick recovery for Halichosen…
Hali should’ve never been on the court. IN should fire any medical staff that cleared him to play.
Hindsight is always correct.
It was a risk worth taking, a championship was on the line.
One last stand lols …….
The 4th qtr was dragged out too many foul calls. Finally over.
First is always the best ……
Congratulations Thunder 😱👏👏👏
Was that Hali in the hoodie … daaam he’s hugging everyone. Man thats big man. Haliburton 🙏
Congrats ⚡️…
SGA wins before Luka, Booker, Ja, Trae, Dame, Brunson, Maxey, Derozen, Russ. Chet wins before Embiid, KAT, Turner, Gobert.
Jalen Williams wins before JJJ, Bam, Butler, PG.
Don’t forget Hatden …
Congrats OKC.
OKC just busted the young-teams-can’t-win curse ……. it was bound to happen though – the level of parity is at its highest, the game is fast, wide-open, high-scoring.
Wow you hear that …….
five … 5 second rd picks and 3 un drafted players on their 12 man team. Thats how you draft lols.
Give second rd picks for KD. You draft like Thunder did …..