Haliburton sustained the injury during the first quarter of Game 7 of 2025 NBA Finals which Indiana would lose to the Oklahoma City Thunder and failed to win their first ever NBA title.
On the day after, Haliburton took on social media that he had successfully had the torn Achilles tendon of his right leg operated on and promised that he would do his best to get back right.
Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard had eliminated the possibility of Haliburton playing in the upcoming season altogether on Monday and stated that he is confident that the two-time All-Star player would be back better.
There is no doubt in my mind that he will be back better than before. Pritchard said to the media, the surgery was successful. It is a bit more elevated and he has more blood to that (he recovers). And he has no plans to play next year. We would not risk that now and don not get hopes up that he will play.”
It was a big blow as Haliburton had been arguably a star of the NBA playoffs till then with his magic moments helping the Pacers reach the Finals.
His game-winning shot against the New York Knicks as the buzzer sounded to force overtime during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals became one of the more iconic plays during the playoffs as he led the Pacers to an epic comeback and the shot was later replicated on the floor of Madison Square Garden by imitating the celebration of Reggie Miller when he hit the game-tying shot during a New York Knicks game. After that, Indiana finally emerged with the win in the match in overtime.
He created what may turn out to be one of the most memorable plays of the playoffs when he rallied the Pacers in a massive scoring run in the last few minutes of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks, hitting a must-win shot with the final buzzer, a perfect imitation of an imitated gesture, that of Reggie Miller choking on a shot that Reggie made a few years before in New York in the Madison Square Garden floor. Later in the game, Indiana finally won the game in overtime.
In the Finals, he reproduced those heroics when he contributed to an improbable comeback victory against the Thunder in Game 1 in Oklahoma City. In game one of the series, he stole the road game by hitting a mid-range jumper with 0.3 seconds left in the game to give Indiana its lone lead.
Haliburton appeared to be on a vendetta to shut down all the people who doubted him, putting him on this mission to show everyone that he was not as overrated as they thought he was at the beginning of the season after being voted as the most overrated player in the league by his peers. He also took game winning shots to defeat Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers in the preliminary rounds.
Nevertheless, the twenty-five-year-old injured his right calf during the middle of the Finals which obviously hindered his achievement on the court. Even though he played on the injury until he finally tore his Achilles tendon in the middle of the first half of Game 7.
Haliburton himself had no regrets at playing through the injury, but Pritchard was of another mind.
And then, would I have him do it over and over again (italics added)?–Er, yes, I would. I would not. Pritchard said he would not. I would forfeit that game if I knew he was going to get injured since I love that kid and would not want him to have a great career.
Haliburton had 18.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 9.2 assists per game in 73 regular season games in the previous campaign.
With Haliburton missing, it appears to be that the Pacers will be the team that is in transition next season.
The team has already lost one of its stalwarts Myles Turner who having spent the first 10 years of his NBA career in Indiana had signed with the Milwaukee Bucks in the first few days of free agency.
The 29-year old center exits the Pacers, as the lone leader in blocks in the team history and leaves a huge hole in the rotation.
Pritchard also informed media that they were caught unawares by losingTurner in free agency and that Turner is one of the best players that have ever played under him.
I know that, that his owner Herb Simon and his part owner Steven Rales and Simon family were absolutely willing to dig deep into the tax to retain him, Pritchard said. We were very keen on that, and we were negotiating at good faith.
But the way it goes with this league is sometimes were in a negotiations situation but because a guy is unrestricted, a guy can have the right to say: That is the offer I want. He or she would say I will do it and that will be the best to my family.’”
