Central Notes: Haliburton, Bradley, Collins, White, Cavs

Tyrese Haliburton is back on the court and playing full-contact basketball again, Dustin Dopirak writes for The Indianapolis Star. Seven months after tearing his Achilles in the Pacers‘ Game 7 loss to the Thunder, Haliburton is participating in in three-on-three and four-on-four scrimmages.

“I’m approaching week 31 here, so almost going on eight months,” Haliburton said in a recent appearance on LeBron James‘ Mind The Game podcast (Twitter video link). “Man, I feel really good. My body feels really good. I just started playing 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 full court. That’s been good to be with the (player development) interns and stuff. It’s been funny because as I’ve started playing with the interns and (assistant coach) Jannero Pargo, one of our player development guys, I’m playing with these guys and I feel so nice. I’m like, ‘Ooh, I can play in an NBA game right now.'”

Although his body feels good, Haliburton admitted that he got a taste of reality once he got on the court with teammates like Kam Jones, Ethan Thompson, and Bennedict Mathurin.

“First play, (Mathurin) comes down, hesi, shoots a three,” Haliburton said. “They’re like, ‘Go at him!’ He’s like, ‘Ah, his leg.’ I’m like, ‘Hey bruh, I’m fine. Attack me like normal. I gotta see where I’m at.’ He hesi’d me one time. He was at the rim, I was still at the three-point line. I was like, ‘Ohhh.’ I still got some time. I gotta give myself some grace and understand it’s going to take some time.”

The Pacers ruled out Haliburton for the 2025/26 season last summer, so we won’t see the star point guard playing in an NBA game before next fall. Still, the progress he has made in his recovery bodes well for his availability in training camp — and for a potential bounce-back ’26/27 season in Indiana. The team has one the NBA’s worst records this year at 12-36.

We have more from the Central Division:

• The Pacers have an open spot on their 15-man roster again after Tony Bradley‘s second 10-day contract expired overnight. If they want to bring back Bradley, the Pacers would have to sign him to a guaranteed rest-of-season deal, but won’t happen for now, tweets Tony East of Circle City Spin. I expect the team will hold that roster spot open for at least the next week in case it proves useful in a trade-deadline deal.
• Bulls big man Zach Collins – out since December 27 due to a toe injury – isn’t close to returning to action. Head coach Billy Donovan said on Wednesday that Collins is still wearing a walking boot and will be reevaluated in two weeks, per Dopirak (Twitter link).
• Bulls guard Coby White tells Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune (subscription required) that he’s taking a positive view of being the subject of so many trade rumors this season. “You’ve got to always look at it like — it’s good to be wanted, you know?” White said. “But I don’t really know what’s going to happen. I don’t have any clue. … I just want to see everybody succeed. Whatever direction they decide to go in or they’re deciding to go in, I want all these guys to succeed. I got drafted here, so I want the organization to succeed. I hope it works out for them, whatever they decide.”
• The raised court at the Cavaliers‘ Rocket Arena is under scrutiny again after Luka Doncic slipped off the sidelines and hurt his lower left leg on Wednesday night, writes Dan Woike of The Athletic. The Lakers star appeared to avoid a major injury, but it’s not the first time the court has been an issue — after Dru Smith suffered a season-ending ACL injury in 2023, the Heat contacted the NBA to express concerns about the gap between the arena floor and the playing surface. “It is absolutely a safety hazard,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said. “And I don’t know why it’s still like that. I don’t. You know, you can lodge formal complaints. A lot of times you don’t see any change when you lodge a formal complaint.”

Eli Cohen contributed to this story.