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Tyrese Haliburton’s qualifying series came to the worst end of match 7, and the Indiana Pacers confirmed what was expected before the 2025-26 season.
Kevin Pritchard, president of basketball operations, confirmed on Monday that Haliburton will be released all the next NBA campaign after having torn his Achilles.
The Pacers do not want to “compromise” any other injury to Haliburton, their stars leader. Thus, recovery will be long to ensure that it is 100% before returning to court.
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The Indiana Pacers goalkeeper Tyrese Haliburton reacts after marked during the first half of match 7 of the NBA Basketball series against Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP photo / Julio Cortez)
“I have no doubt that he will come back better than ever,” Pritchard told journalists, via Wish-TV. “… he will not play next year, however. We would not compromise this now.”
This is not unexpected news for Haliburton after spending match 7 against Oklahoma City Thunder, the possible winners of the NBA final in a series harshly played by the Pacers.
Achilles tears generally take up to a year to recover, although some athletes have returned earlier to their respective sports.
The quarter of the Falcons of Atlanta Kirk Cousins, for example, was back on the ground for his new team 11 months after his injury. And although he never returned to the field, Aaron Rodgers thought he could have played for New York Jets only a few months after his own tears in week 1 of the 2023 season.
Tyrese Haliburton de Pacers becomes frank on a devastating injury: “ frustration is unfathomable ”
However, football and basketball are very different sports, and the Pacers risk nothing with Haliburton, even if they had to do another final in 2026.
Haliburton signed a maximum extension of five years with the Indiana in 2023, the marking among their corners of stone to build for the coming years. This decision had tons of meaning given what Haliburton was able to do for the Pacers during the regular season, and especially the playoffs.
Tyrese Haliburton # 0 of the Indiana Pacers celebrated during the match against the Thunder of Oklahoma City in the sixth game of the NBA 2025 final on June 19, 2025 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images)
Haliburton’s heroism throughout this year’s NBA qualifiers was at least astounding, when he came with a shot after a shot while Indiana won the Eastern Conference.
But, of course, Haliburton did not think of anything that made the Pacers made match 7 of the final after suffering his injury. He hoped that his team could finish work without him, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Co. won everything at the end.
“Dude. I don’t know how to explain it other than the shock. Words cannot express the pain of this disappointment. Frustration is unfathomable. I worked all my life to arrive at this time and that is how it ends?” Wrote Haliburton on x more than 24 hours after the match.
“Now that I have been operated on, I would like to be able to count the number of times people will tell me that I am going to” come back stronger “. What a cliché lol, this s — suck. My foot feels like a dead weight. But what hurts me the most, I think it’s my mind.
The Indiana Pacers goalkeeper, Tyrese Haliburton (0), reacts during the fourth quarter of the seventh game of the second round of the 2024 NBA qualifiers against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden on May 19, 2024. (Brad Penner-USA TODAY SPORTS)
“At 25, I have already learned that God never gives us more than what we can manage. I know that I will get out on the other side of that a better man and a better player. And honestly, at the moment, Achilles torn and everything, I do not regret it. I would do it again and again after that, to fight for this city and my brothers. To have the chance to do something special.”
Haliburton collected an average of 18.6 points and 9.2 assists per game for the Pacers in 2024-25.
