Tyrese Haliburton played five-on-five basketball on Wednesday for the first time since tearing his Achilles in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals series, the Pacers guard tweeted today. Haliburton recently spoke about his recovery and his choice not to set concrete goals for next season outside of playing as the best version of himself.
As Scott Agness of the Fieldhouse Files notes (via Twitter), this is week 41 of Haliburton’s recovery. For reference, Jayson Tatum returned to play for the Celtics roughly 43 weeks after his own surgery from an Achilles rupture.
Haliburton also recently opened up about dealing with a bout of shingles while continuing his Achilles rehab.
We have more from around the Central Division:
- Cade Cunningham returned from injury today in the Pistons‘ matchup against the Bucks, as expected. Cunningham missed 11 games with a left lung pneumothorax, which is his longest absence since the 2022/23 season, Hunter Patterson writes for The Athletic. Patterson spoke with Dr. Daniel H. Sterman, the director of NYU Langone Medical Center’s pulmonary division, who speculated that there shouldn’t be major risk of Cunningham’s ailment reoccurring due to the fact that it was sustained as part of a collision, rather than spontaneously with no outside interference.
- Isaiah Stewart, who also returned for the Pistons on Wednesday, tried to play through his left calf strain for a time, but the pain made it ultimately impossible for him to do so, writes Coty M. Davis of The Detroit News. “That time (off) allowed me to settle down and allowed me to feel better and feel like myself,” Stewart said. “Obviously, it was tough. But at the end of the day, I want to be there for my teammates come the playoffs. I’ll be able to play and be available, which is the most important thing.” While Stewart came to terms with his absence, he is frustrated by one thing: his ineligibility for end-of-season awards. The big man likely received All-Defensive votes if he had qualified. However, Stewart prioritized being healthy for the playoffs, as he missed last year’s postseason run and was determined not to do so again this season.
- When James Harden came to the Cavaliers in the Darius Garland trade, he brought a pregame habit with him: going through walk-throughs in hotel ballrooms during road games without shootarounds. “It’s just preparation, detail, you get ready for the game,” Harden said, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “Physically you get out and move around, and mentally you have to be prepared. It’s just preparation man, especially going into this run that we are about to go into. I think the focus is making sure we know who we’re playing against and individual guys and what they like to do with their tendencies.” Head coach Kenny Atkinson was initially skeptical of the ask, but he has grown to appreciate it — as well as how quickly the star guard has acclimated to his new team. “He’s completely adapted to our style of play, which is pretty, I would assume, rare,” Atkinson said.