Tyrese Haliburton will miss the entirety of the 2025-26 season, the Indiana Pacers announced, after he tore his Achilles tendon in the NBA Finals. Haliburton played through a calf strain with the Pacers’ season on the line, and it proved costly in the decisive Game 7 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Achilles tears require extensive recovery periods, and missing a full season was the likely outcome for Haliburton.
The Pacers did not initially provide a recovery timeline when Haliburton underwent surgery, but the expectation is now that the star point guard will not suit up again until late 2026, about a year and a half following his most recent game appearance.
“Indy, I’m sorry,” Haliburton said after his surgery. “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. I think Kobe said it best when in this same situation. ‘There are far greater issues/challenges in the world then a torn Achilles. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, find the silver lining and get to work with the same belief, same drive and same conviction as ever.’ And that’s exactly right. I will do everything in my power to get back right.”
Last season’s playoffs dealt brutal blows to multiple stars as Haliburton was not the only standout to sustain an Achilles tear. Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum and former Milwaukee Bucks veteran Damian Lillard suffered the same injury in the 2025 postseason. Neither has a definitive timeline for a return.
Haliburton was in the midst of a legendary individual playoff run when he went down with the devastating injury. A string of incredibly clutch performances included buzzer-beaters in each of the Pacers’ four playoff series. He was on pace for another tremendous showing in what could have been a championship-clinching evening in Game 7 of the finals as he canned three 3-pointers in the first quarter before his night and season came to a premature close. For the postseason, Haliburton averaged 17.7 points and 9.0 assists per game — excluding his final outing.
“What happened with Tyrese is — all of our hearts dropped,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said after Game 7. “But he will be back. I don’t have any medical information about what may or may not have happened, but he’ll be back in time. I believe he’ll make a full recovery. He authored one of the great individual playoff runs in the history of the NBA with dramatic play after dramatic play. It was something that no one has ever seen.”
Last season was another stellar one for Haliburton, who averaged 18.6 points, 9.2 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game. His numbers dipped slightly from the previous two years in which he earned All-Star nods, but despite missing the showcase in his third full season with the Pacers, he still clinched a spot on the All-NBA Third Team.
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