Pacers’ Pritchard: Haliburton Won’t Play In 2025/26
Speaking on Monday to reporters, Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard confirmed that star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who tore his right Achilles tendon during Game 7 of the NBA Finals last month, will miss the entire 2025/26 season.
“I have no doubt that he will be back better than ever,” Pritchard said (Twitter video link via WISH-TV News). “… He will not play next year though. He would not jeopardize that now. So don’t get any hopes up that he will play.
Pritchard’s update doesn’t come as a real surprise, given how late in the spring Haliburton’s injury occurred. He suffered the Achilles tear on June 22 and underwent surgery the following day.
It typically takes upwards of a full calendar year for players to fully recover following Achilles surgery. By the time the NBA postseason tip off next April, Haliburton will be fewer than 10 months into his recovery process, and there’s no guarantee Indiana will make a deep playoff run – or even make the playoffs at all – without him available in 2025/26.
Pritchard said Haliburton’s absence will create “opportunities to grow” for some of Indiana’s players. While Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell are the top two candidates to take over point guard duties, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Bennedict Mathurin also assumes more of a ball-handling and play-making role as he enters the final year of his rookie scale contract.
As Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star relays (via Twitter), Pritchard went on to joke that Haliburton will have to serve as his general manager until he’s healthy and that he’ll “probably be better than (actual GM) Chad (Buchanan).”
Haliburton has expressed no regrets about trying to play through a calf injury to win a championship, suggesting he’d do it the same way over again if he could, even knowing he’d suffer a far more significant injury. Pritchard doesn’t share that sentiment, Dopirak notes (via Twitter), even though the Pacers’ top basketball executive believes the club would have won Game 7 if Haliburton didn’t get hurt.
Tyrese Haliburton Undergoes Surgery On Torn Achilles
10:14 pm: Haliburton has published a photo of himself in his hospital bed, post-surgery, along with a candid message to Pacers fans (Twitter link).
“Words cannot express the pain of this letdown,” Haliburton wrote, in part. “The frustration is unfathomable. I’ve worked my whole life to get to this moment and this is how it ends? Makes no sense.
“… At 25, I’ve already learned that God never gives us more than we can handle. I know I’ll come out on the other side of this a better man and a better player. And honestly, right now, torn Achilles and all, I don’t regret it. I’d do it again, and again after that, to fight for this city and my brothers. For the chance to do something special.
“Indy, I’m sorry. If any fan base doesn’t deserve this, it’s y’all. But together we are going to fight like hell to get back to this very spot, and get over this hurdle. I don’t doubt for a second that y’all have my back, and I hope you guys know that I have yours.”
5:02 pm: Haliburton underwent an MRI on Monday which confirmed the injury, according to a Pacers press release. The surgery will be performed today by Dr. Martin O’Malley at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.
12:33 pm: Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton has been diagnosed with a torn right Achilles tendon, sources confirm to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). Grant Afseth of RG.org, who initially reported that Haliburton suffered an Achilles tear, states that he’s traveling to New York on Monday to prepare for surgery to address the injury.
Haliburton had been playing through a right calf strain that he suffered in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. 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.
With just over five minutes left in the first quarter of Sunday’s game, 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, grabbing his right lower leg and then pounded his fist against the floor (Twitter video link via ESPN). He was unable to put any weight on the leg as he was helped off the court.
It immediately looked like it might be an Achilles injury and John Haliburton, Tyrese’ father, confirmed as much to ESPN’s Lisa Salters prior to the end of the first half.
While the Pacers kept the game close for a little while after their starting point guard went down, the Thunder began to pull away in the third quarter and held their lead for the rest of Game 7 to secure the 2025 NBA championship.
“It’s heart-breaking, man,” Pacers reserve center Thomas Bryant said after the game, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (subscription required). “You never want to see that with any of our players, especially with Ty. He’s the heart and soul of our team. He’s our point guard. He’s our point god, you know? We all gathered around each other when he went down and said we’re trying to do this for him, man. And it just sucks that we couldn’t get that accomplished.”
“We needed Ty out there,” added forward Obi Toppin. “He’s been good for us all year. For him to go down at the beginning of the game like that, it sucked the soul out of us.”
It’s a devastating blow for the Pacers and for Haliburton not just because it came during Game 7 of the NBA Finals but because it means the 25-year-old’s availability for the entire 2025/26 season is now very much in jeopardy. It often takes a full calendar year for a player to return from an Achilles tear.
Haliburton averaged 18.6 points, 9.2 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.4 steals in 33.6 minutes per game in 73 regular season starts for Indiana, with a shooting line of .473/.388/.851. While that performance earned him a spot on the All-NBA third team, he was even more impressive during the postseason, making multiple game-winning shots for the upstart Pacers, who came within one win of claiming the first NBA title in franchise history.
Haliburton is the third Eastern Conference star to tear an Achilles during this postseason, joining Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and Bucks guard Damian Lillard, whose injury occurred in the first round vs. Indiana. Haliburton is also the third Pacer to sustain that injury this season, as backup centers James Wiseman and Isaiah Jackson both did so in the span of nine days in the fall.
Haliburton is under contract with the Pacers through the 2028/29 season, so the franchise figures to continue building around him once he’s ready to return.
Thunder Win First Championship Since Move; SGA Named Finals MVP
The Thunder claimed their first NBA championship since the franchise moved to Oklahoma City, as they defeated the depleted Pacers, 103-91, in Game 7 on Sunday.
Seattle, which won the championship in 1979, relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008. The Pacers, who have never won an NBA title, played the last three quarters without Tyrese Haliburton, who suffered an Achilles injury in the first quarter.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, this season’s Most Valuable Player, also earned Finals MVP honors, the league announced (via Twitter). It’s the 16th time a player has won both in the same year, though it hasn’t happened since LeBron James pulled it off during the 2012/13 season.
The Thunder should be major contenders for years to come with their young core, featuring Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren. The top priorities for the Thunder this offseason center around extensions.
Gilgeous-Alexander has met the performance criteria for a super-max contract and will become eligible to sign that extension next month. The 2024 MVP runner-up still has two years left on his current deal and can’t exceed six years in total, so the maximum value of his extension would be a projected $293.4MM over four years, beginning in 2027/28.
Williams and Holmgren are eligible for rookie scale extensions until the beginning of next seasons and both could receive the max – five years and a projected $246MM. The maximum value of those extensions could increase to a projected $296MM if All-NBA, MVP or Defensive Player of the Year honors are negotiated into the contracts.
The Pacers’ offseason outlook could change dramatically due to Haliburton’s injury. Myles Turner, their starting center, is headed to unrestricted free agency and while the Pacers reportedly want to re-sign him, they could have plenty of competition. Bennedict Mathurin is eligible for a rookie scale extension.
Several other key players, including Haliburton and Pascal Siakam, are signed through at least the 2027/28 season. Could they look to shed salary in light of Haliburton’s injury?
With the NBA Finals decided, the 2025 NBA offseason is officially underway. For the second straight year, teams will be permitted to negotiate contracts with their own free agents one day after the Finals. Players who won’t be free agents this offseason but who will become eligible to sign contract extensions on July 6 will also be permitted to begin negotiations with their current teams on Monday.
Thus, it wouldn’t be surprising if some agreements are reported this week. Free agent contracts still can’t be officially finalized until after the July moratorium lifts on July 6.
The draft will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, with free agency beginning on June 30 at 6 p.m. Eastern time.
Tyrese Haliburton Exits Game 7 With Achilles Injury
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.
Pacers Notes: Haliburton, Siakam, Game 6 Strategy
The Pacers weren’t sure if they would have Tyrese Haliburton for Game 6 due to a strained right calf, but there are no worries heading into Sunday’s series finale at Oklahoma City, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. Haliburton is still getting around-the-clock treatment on the calf, but he vowed at Saturday’s media session that he’ll be in the lineup.
“I’m pretty much in the same standpoint I was before Game 6,” Haliburton said. “A little stiff, a little sore, rather. Good thing I only had to play like 23 minutes (on Thursday). I’ve been able to get even more treatment and do more things. Just trying to take care of it the best I can. But I’ll be ready to go for Game 7.”
Trainers said Haliburton may have been sidelined for a couple of weeks if the injury had happened during the season, but he underwent extensive medical procedures and wore a compression sleeve to stabilize the calf area. He explained that he feels an obligation to his teammates and can’t stand the thought of letting them down.
“We’re a group of guys that get along really well and are trying to do something special,” Haliburton said. “I think the expectations for this group from an external viewpoint coming into the year weren’t very high. They weren’t very high coming into the playoffs. They weren’t very high going into the second round of the playoffs. They weren’t very high going into the third round. They weren’t very high now. I think we just have done a great job of just staying together. There’s not a group of guys I’d rather go to war with. I’m really excited to compete with these guys in a Game 7, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
There’s more on the Pacers:
- An odd sight before Game 6 was a shot of Pascal Siakam in a team huddle where only the whites of his eyes were visible (Twitter video link). Siakam explained what happened, telling reporters he was in the middle of a pregame prayer, Dopirak adds in a separate story. “I have this problem where I can’t really close my eyes,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll be thinking I’m closing my eyes, but they are not really closed. Even sometimes having conversations, sometimes I look up and it feels like I’m thinking, and my eyes just go up.”
- Coach Rick Carlisle flummoxed the Thunder in Game 6 by scaling back the pressure defense he had used throughout the series, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic. Instead of attacking OKC’s ball-handlers, the Pacers waited to trap until they crossed mid-court, minimizing their chances of creating easy baskets.
- The Pacers may not have the star power of a traditional champion, but they’ve been able to work together to reach the brink of an NBA title, observes James Boyd of The Athletic. From their stars to the end of their bench, the Pacers are loaded with players who have been forced to prove themselves again and again. “We have a group of people that probably wasn’t given anything,” Siakam said. “We’re in a situation where, at the end of the day, nobody really cares to see us win.”
Pacers Notes: Haliburton, Siakam, McConnell, Game 7
Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton received a “wide range” of treatments in an effort to get him ready for Game 6 of the NBA Finals, according to Jamal Collier of ESPN, who says those treatments included hyperbaric chambers, needles, massages, electronic stimulation, and a compression sleeve on Haliburton’s calf.
Fortunately for the Pacers, they raced out to a big first-half lead on Thursday and extended that lead in the third quarter, putting them in position to hold Haliburton out of the fourth quarter and reduce his workload for the night. He had 14 points and five assists in 23 minutes, with Indiana outscoring the Thunder by 25 points when he was on the court.
“He did amazing,” Pacers forward Obi Toppin said after the victory, per Shakeia Taylor of The Athletic. “He led us to a win, and he’s a soldier. He’s not going to let no little injury hold him back from playing in the finals and helping this team win. He’s helped us get to this point, and he’s going to keep going until he can’t.”
Haliburton was listed as questionable on the Game 6 injury report and was considered a game-time decision on Thursday, but multiple teammates – including Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner – said they had no doubt the All-NBA guard would be on the court when the game tipped off.
“I just look at it as I want to be out there to compete with my brothers,” Haliburton said, according to Taylor. “We’ve had such a special year, and we have a special bond as a group. I think I’d beat myself up if I didn’t give it a chance. I just want to be out there and fight. (I) just had to have an honest conversation with Coach (Rick Carlisle) that if I didn’t look like myself and was hurting the team, like, sit me down. Obviously, I want to be on the floor, but I want to win more than anything.”
Here’s more on the Pacers on the heels of their Game 6 victory:
- As big a role as Haliburton has played to get the Pacers to this point, Siakam actually looks like the frontrunner to be named Finals MVP if Indiana can pull out a win in Game 7, notes Sam Amick of The Athletic. The veteran forward, who put an exclamation point on a huge second quarter with a poster dunk over Jalen Williams and a buzzer-beating fadeaway, won a title in Toronto, but feels like he has grown significantly as a player and a leader since that 2019 championship. “I wasn’t a leader then,” Siakam said. “… I think this time around, just having been one of the only guys that has been there or one of the few guys that has been there, and I’m year nine or 10 or whatever, it’s like I have way more to say and I can impact not only by saying things but also on the floor.”
- With another big performance in Game 6, Pacers guard T.J. McConnell became the only player in league history to record at least 60 points, 25 assists, 15 rebounds, and 10 steals off the bench in an NBA Finals, writes Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. However, McConnell’s impact goes beyond the box score. “Any time he comes into the game, the crowd loves him, and he feeds off of that,” Toppin said. “He had a great start to (Thursday’s) game, and it got us going. Brought juice into the game, energy into the game.”
- While the Pacers will carry the momentum from their resounding Game 6 victory into Sunday’s Game 7, they know they’ll still be significant underdogs in Oklahoma City against the 68-win Thunder, as Zak Keefer of The Athletic details. They also know that anything can happen in a single game. “One game,” Carlisle said on Thursday. “This is what it’s all about. This is what you dream about growing up, this opportunity.”
- Stephen Holder of ESPN spoke to former Pacers like Metta Sandiford-Artest, Lance Stephenson, Stephen Jackson, and Rik Smits about what it would mean to them – and to the city – if this Indiana squad can win a championship on Sunday. “This franchise really deserves it,” Smits said. “We had a lot of great years, but obviously never made it this far. So, I’m just happy for the team, the owners, the whole city. It’s a great fan base here. I’ve always loved playing here, so I would love to see a championship.”
Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton Will Play In Game 6
7:40 pm: Doctors informed Haliburton that his calf ailment would normally take multiple weeks to recover, per Shams Charania of ESPN (via Twitter). Given the stakes, the Pacers guard pushed to play.
5:52 pm: All-NBA Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton will suit up for Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Thunder on Thursday night, head coach Rick Carlisle told reporters (Twitter link via Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press). Carlisle added that Haliburton won’t face any sort of minutes limit (Twitter link via Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports).
It had previously been reported that the 25-year-old Olympian intended to give it a go, but his availability had not been confirmed. Haliburton had been considered a game-time decision to play through a right calf strain incurred in the first half of Monday’s Game 5, a 120-109 loss.
The defeat marked the first time Indiana had lost two consecutive games during its postseason run to the Finals this spring.
Across 21 contests in his second-ever playoffs, Haliburton has averaged 17.9 points, 9.1 assists, 5.8 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 0.7 blocks per game. Those numbers dipped a little in Game 5 when the former Iowa State star attempted to play through the calf injury.
Haliburton failed to connect on a single field goal attempt on Monday, finishing with four points on 0-of-6 shooting. He did chip in seven rebounds and six assists.
Indiana, playing in its first Finals since 2000, now returns to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on the brink of elimination. The Pacers trail the Thunder 3-2 in the series.
Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault, in his own pregame presser, anticipated that Haliburton would give it his all, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (via Twitter).
“We’re expecting his best punch,” Daigneault said. “Indiana’s a great team, we’re expecting their best punch.”
Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton Intends To Play Game 6
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle on Wednesday referred to Tyrese Haliburton as a game-time decision for Game 6, with the star point guard later stating was going to everything he could to suit up after suffering a right calf strain.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday (Twitter video link), ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that as long as he’s medically cleared, Haliburton intends to play tonight as Indiana looks to stave of elimination and extend the NBA Finals to seven games.
“From my understanding, he has every intention of playing tonight,” Charania said. “… Unless there’s some kind of a setback there (at the 5:00 pm ET walkthrough) where the medical team (decides to hold him out), he’s fully intending to be out there tonight. He’s going to gut it out. I would expect to have some padding on that calf.”
In a subsequent appearance on NBA Today, Charania shed a little more light on the severity of Haliburton’s injury (Twitter video link).
“It is a calf strain. … These are tricky injuries with the calf, we know the implications it could have on the rest of your leg,” Charania said. “I was told today, if this were the regular season, Tyrese Haliburton would be missing multiple weeks. So if he is able to play, how does he look? How sharp does he look? Or how much does he struggle and how much is he limited?”
While Haliburton managed to play 34 minutes in Monday’s Game 5 loss, he clearly was hampered by the injury, having missed all six of his field goal attempts and being limited to just four points, compared to his playoff average of 17.3 PPG. On the NBA’s latest injury report, the 25-year-old is officially listed as questionable.
If the third-team All-NBA guard is unable to suit up, T.J. McConnell and Andrew Nembhard will be in line for increased ball-handling and play-making responsibilities.
NBA Finals Notes: Game 6, Daigneault, SGA, Haliburton
With a chance to capture their first title since the franchise moved to Oklahoma City, Thunder players are focused on the process of winning Game 6 rather than its historical implications, writes Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Heavy favorites when the series began, OKC has a chance to celebrate tonight on the Pacers‘ home court.
“We want to win the game tomorrow, but the most important thing we need to do to win the game tomorrow is prepare today and prepare tomorrow and play the first possession really well, then the next possession, then the next possession,” coach Mark Daigneault told reporters on Wednesday. “That’s how we try to approach a game, how we try to approach the playoff series, how we try to approach every single day and let that win the day.”
The Thunder have largely controlled the series after letting Game 1 slip away due to a miraculous Indiana comeback. They won handily in Game 2, staged a rally of their own in Game 4, then took their first lead of the series in Game 5. MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is encouraging his teammates to take their normal approach to tonight’s game and not get distracted by thoughts of a victory celebration.
“The cusp of winning is not winning,” he said. “The way I see it, winning is all that matters. It hasn’t been fulfilled. We haven’t done anything.”
There’s more on the Finals:
- Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton is considered to be a game-time decision, but ESPN’s Brian Windhorst expects him to play. Appearing this morning on Get Up (YouTube link), Windhorst noted that Indiana’s medical staff already had the results of Haliburton’s MRI from Tuesday when the team listed him as questionable. He believes the Pacers are “setting the stage” for Haliburton to be active, but it’s uncertain if the right calf strain is too severe for him to be effective.
- An ESPN panel doesn’t give the Pacers much chance of extending the series if Haliburton can’t live up to his normal standards. While most of the group expects the Finals to end tonight, Jamal Collier observes that Indiana’s role players have performed better at home, while Zach Kram points to Andrew Nembhard as someone who could swing the series if he can find a way to score like he did earlier in the playoffs.
- With the Finals nearing their conclusion, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic examines why the games often seem less important than they used to. He cites a number of factors, including a “humdrum” presentation and the league-wide focus on the transactions cycle, and suggests that things may change when NBC resumes its coverage of the NBA this fall.
Carlisle: Haliburton Likely ‘Game-Time Decision’ For Game 6
11:44am: Haliburton confirmed after Wednesday’s light practice that he has a calf strain but he’s hopeful he can play in Game 6, Spears tweets.
“I’m a competitor. I want to play. I’m going to do everything in my power to play,” Haliburton said.
11:01 am: With his team’s season on the brink, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle anticipates that Tyrese Haliburton will be a “game-time decision” for Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night, Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star relays.
Carlisle commented on Haliburton’s status during a Wednesday morning radio interview on 107.5 The Fan.
“He is going to be carefully evaluated over the next 36 hours and will likely be listed as questionable on the injury report and probably will be a game-time decision for Game 6,” Carlisle said. “Everything is on the table.”
Haliburton did not make a field goal in Indiana’s Game 5 loss to Oklahoma City as the Thunder grabbed a 3-2 lead in the series. Game 6 will be played in Indianapolis. The star guard reportedly underwent an MRI on Tuesday due to an injury believed to be a right calf strain.
“We have to prepare for two scenarios: one where he plays and one where he does not,” Carlisle said.
Carlisle said rotation changes could be coming, regardless of Haliburton’s status. Indiana has lost the last two games of the series.
“Everything is on the table,” Carlisle said. “… It’s pretty simple. Tomorrow night our task is to take care of home court – which is what they did in Game 5 – and get to an ultimate game, which is Game 7. That’s the task in front of us. We have to figure out exactly what tools are in front of us as a team and we have to consider everything. Minute count, throwing that out the window is easy to say, but if you have guys out there that are more fatigued than they should be, that’s not good and against this team, that’s very difficult.”
Center Myles Turner remains defiant that the Pacers can win the next two games, as he told Andscape’s Marc J. Spears. Turner declared, “It’s not over” shortly after the Game 5 loss.
“Our fans have been anticipating this for such a long time,” Turner said. “They’ve been antsy. The biggest thing is to show up for Game 6. They’ll be behind us and be as loud as they were here [in Oklahoma City]. For someone in my position, you never know when you can get this opportunity again. This is the youngest, healthiest and most spry I will ever be. For me, I just got to give it all that I’ve got. Back against the wall. Empty the tank.”