On Saturday, the injured Indiana Pacers star sat on his team’s bench during a preseason game against the Oklahoma City Thunder wearing a Chicago Cubs jersey. It just so happened that the Cubs were playing the Brewers that day in Game 5 of their National League Division Series.
Two days later, Haliburton arrived at the Pacers’ preseason game against the San Antonio Spurs rocking a Dodgers jersey (reportedly that of L.A. superstar Shohei Ohtani). Again, certainly by pure coincidence, the two-time NBA All-Star was representing a team that was facing the Brewers in a high-stakes postseason game, this time Game 1 of the NL Championship Series.
The Brewers are playing for only the second World Series berth in team history, and a high-profile athlete who grew up less than two hours from Milwaukee in Oshkosh, Wis., is actively rooting against them.
The reason, it seems, is because of an alleged snub that took place in the summer of 2024. During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” in April, Haliburton said he had been scheduled to throw out a ceremonial first pitch before a Brewers game last summer … until he and the Pacers eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks during the first round of the 2024 NBA playoffs.
Injured Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton wore Chicago Cubs gear during a preseason game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Oct. 11.
(Andy Lyons / Getty Images)
“I was a Brewers fan,” he said, “and then I was supposed to throw the first pitch last summer, and they X’ed that after the playoff series. So I said, ‘You know what? I’m no longer a Brewers fan.’”
After that, Haliburton said, he became a “free agent” as a baseball fan.
Haliburton must have been thrilled with the result of Game 1 of the NLCS, a 2-1 Dodgers win, but he might want to track down jerseys for the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays just in case — the Brewers are still just four wins away from facing one of those teams in the World Series.
Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton will miss the 2025-26 NBA season after having surgery to repair a torn right Achilles tendon.
The 25-year-old had sustained the injury during the first quarter of the decisive game seven of the NBA Championship play-off finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder last month.
Haliburton fell down without any contact as he attempted to drive to the basket and was in obvious distress as he was helped from the court during the game that the Pacers lost 103-91 to end their hopes of a first NBA title.
Confirming the point guard’s lengthy absence, Pacers president Kevin Pritchard said he hoped Haliburton “will be back better than ever”.
“The surgery went well,” Pritchard told WISH-TV.
“He will not play next year though. We would not jeopardise that now. So don’t get any hopes up that he will play.”
A two-time All-Star, Haliburton averaged 18.6 points, 9.2 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 73 games during the 24-25 regular season and 14 points, 5.9 assists and 4.6 rebounds during the NBA Finals.
He had played the decider against the Thunder despite suffering a calf strain in game five of the finals.
Haliburton became the third high-profile player to suffer a ruptured Achilles tendon in the play-offs, following the Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum and the Milwaukee Bucks’ Damian Lillard.
A similar injury had also kept Kevin Durant out for a full season when he was hurt in the 2019 NBA Finals while playing for the Golden State Warriors.
A day after having to leave the biggest game of his life, Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton shared his first public comments since tearing his right Achilles tendon early in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
“Words cannot express the pain of this letdown,” Haliburton wrote on X (formerly Twitter) after undergoing surgery Monday to repair the tendon. “The frustration is unfathomable. I’ve worked my whole life to get to this moment and this is how it ends? Makes no sense.”
But for the majority of his five-paragraph post, which Haliburton accompanied with a photo of himself smiling and forming a heart with his hands from a hospital bed, the two-time All Star also delivered a message of optimism and determination. And he did so, in part, by quoting late Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, who overcame the same injury in 2013.
“I think Kobe said it best when in this same situation,” Haliburton wrote. “‘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.”
Bryant’s words were part of a lengthy Facebook post early in the morning on April 13, 2013, hours after tearing his left Achilles tendon while driving to the basket during a game against the Golden State Warriors the previous night. After suffering the injury, Bryant famously stayed in the game long enough to sink two free throws.
In his post, Bryant describes his raw emotions and even uncharacteristically expresses some self-doubt before his famous Mamba Mentality inevitably surfaces.
“All the training and sacrifice just flew out the window with one step that I’ve done millions of times!” wrote Bryant, who was 34 at the time. “The frustration is unbearable. The anger is rage. Why the hell did this happen ?!? Makes no damn sense. Now I’m supposed to come back from this and be the same player Or better at 35?!? How in the world am I supposed to do that??
“I have NO CLUE. Do I have the consistent will to overcome this thing? Maybe I should break out the rocking chair and reminisce on the career that was. Maybe this is how my book ends. Maybe Father Time has defeated me…Then again maybe not!
Kobe Bryant writhes in pain after suffering a torn Achilles tendon during a game against the Golden State Warriors on April 12, 2013, at Staples Center.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“Its 3:30am, my foot feels like dead weight, my head is spinning from the pain meds and Im wide awake. Forgive my Venting but whats the purpose of social media if I wont bring it to you Real No Image?? Feels good to vent, let it out. To feel as if THIS is the WORST thing EVER! Because After ALL the venting, a real perspective sets in.”
That’s where Bryant writes the words that Haliburton quoted.
“We don’t quit, we don’t cower, we don’t run,” Bryant wrote later in the post. “We endure and conquer.”
True to his word, Bryant returned to the floor with the Lakers on Dec. 8, 2013. He dealt with several other injuries — including a knee injury that ended his 2013-14 season just six games after he returned from the Achilles — before retiring at the end of the 2015-16 season, his 20th in the NBA.
More than a decade later, a 25-year-old star is using Bryant’s words as inspiration, days after being unable to help his team in a 103-91 loss to the Thunder with the NBA championship on the line.
Here is Haliburton’s full post:
“Man. Don’t know how to explain it other than shock. Words cannot express the pain of this letdown. The frustration is unfathomable. I’ve worked my whole life to get to this moment and this is how it ends? Makes no sense.
“Now that I’ve gotten surgery, I wish I could count the number of times people will tell me I’m going to ‘come back stronger’. What a cliche lol, this s— sucks. My foot feels like dead weight fam. But what’s hurting most I think is my mind. Feel like I’m rambling, but I know this is something I’ll look back on when I’m through this, as something I’m proud I fought through. It feels good to let this s— out without y’all seeing the kid ugly cry.
“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.
Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton falls to the court with an injury next to Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander during the first quarter of Game 7 of the NBA Finals on June 22.
(Nate Billings / Associated Press)
“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. 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.
“My journey to get to where I am today wasn’t by happenstance, I’ve pushed myself every day to be great. And I will continue to do just that. The most important part of this all, is that I’m grateful. I’m grateful for every single experience that’s led me here. I’m grateful for all the love from the hoop world. I don’t ‘have to’ go through this, I get to go through this. I’m grateful for the road that lies ahead. Watch how I come back from this. So, give me some time, I’ll dust myself off and get right back to being the best version of Tyrese Haliburton.
“Proverbs 3:5-6 ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.’”
Could Achilles injuries be the Achilles heel of the NBA?
Regardless of allegiance, anyone watching Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday had to be struck by the calamitous impact of the injury to superstar Tyrese Haliburton on the Indiana Pacers.
“In that moment, my heart dropped for him,” OKC guard and Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters. “I couldn’t imagine playing the biggest game of my life and something like that happening. It’s not fair.”
It’s also not uncommon. Haliburton was the third superstar lost during the playoffs to an Achilles tear, following Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks and Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics.
Players who sustained the injury during the regular season include Dejounte Murray of the New Orleans Pelicans, Dru Smith of the Miami Heat and two of Haliburton’s Indiana teammates — Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman.
Regenerative medicine doctor Jesse Morse pointed out in X posts that the high-grade calf strain Haliburton suffered in Game 5 was a precursor to the Achilles injury.
“Hailburton was playing with fire by playing in Games 6 and 7 after being diagnosed with a high-grade calf strain, an injury that is notoriously slow to heal,” Morse wrote. “There was a significantly increased risk of a possible Achilles tear due to him already having the high-grade calf strain, regardless of what the ‘data shows.’
“We saw it with Kobe Bryant. We saw it with Aaron Rodgers. Likely more. A calf strain lead to an Achilles tear.”
Bryant ruptured his left Achilles on April 12, 2013, after playing every minute of eight consecutive quarters as the Lakers pursued a playoff spot with two games remaining in the regular season. Bryant had suffered injuries to his knees earlier in the game. He returned to action eight months later.
Rodgers tore his left Achilles in his first game as quarterback of the New York Jets on Sept. 11, 2023, shortly after he’d experienced tightness in his calf. He missed the entire season but returned in 2024 at age 41.
The Achilles tendon is a fibrous cord that directs movement from the leg to the foot, connecting muscles from the calf to the heel bone. A sudden explosive movement like running or jumping can cause the tendon to tear or rupture.
The origin of term Achilles stems from the hero of that name in Greek mythology. His mother sought to make him immortal by dipping him into a river that held magical powers. She held him by the heel, however, leaving it vulnerable.
Sure enough, the seemingly eternally brave Achilles was killed by an arrow to his heel during the Trojan War. The Achilles’ heel has been known ever since as a metaphor for a person’s vulnerable spot.
Haliburton certainly displayed a knack for heroics all season, culminating in the jump shot he made with 0.3 seconds to play in Game 1 of the Finals that gave the Pacers a victory over the heavily favored Thunder.
He helped them to reach Game 7 and hit a trio of three-point shots early in the contest only to — alas — crumple to the floor when his Achilles tendon popped. The Thunder prevailed, 103-91.
“We needed Ty out there,” Pacers forward Obi Toppin told reporters. “For him to go down in a game like that, that sucked the soul out of us.”
Reserve guards bag 49 points at home as the Pacers top the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-107 in Game 3.
Bennedict Mathurin has put on a game-changing performance in game three of the NBA Finals to help the Indiana Pacers out-duel the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-107 and take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven NBA Finals.
Fuelled by a near triple-double from Tyrese Haliburton, who scored 22 points with nine rebounds and 11 assists, and a career playoff-high 27 points from reserve Mathurin, the Pacers showed a tremendous collective effort in Wednesday’s Game 3.
The Pacers bench outscored Oklahoma City’s reserves 49-18 and Indiana wore down NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, whose 24 points included just three in the fourth quarter.
“So many different guys chipped in,” Haliburton told broadcaster ABC. “Ben Mathurin was amazing off the bench tonight. He just stuck with it. We just had guys make plays after plays.”
Pascal Siakam scored 21 points for Indiana, and TJ McConnell added 10 points and five steals off the bench to help the Pacers improve to 10-0 since March 11 in games immediately after a defeat.
Indiana Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin shoots against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second half of Game 3 of the NBA Finals series [Abbie Parr/AP]
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle lauded the contributions of Mathurin and McConnell.
“Those guys were tremendous,” Carlisle said. “TJ just brought a will, competitive will, to the game. Mathurin jumped in there and immediately was aggressive and got the ball in the basket.
“This is the kind of team that we are,” Carlisle added. “It’s not always going to be exactly the same guys that are stepping up with scoring and stuff like that. But this is how we’ve got to do it, and we got to do it as a team.”
In 22:24 minutes on court through the second and fourth quarters, Mathurin was brutally efficient, making two of his three three-point attempts and seven of eight free – throws, adding in four rebounds an assist and a blocked shot for good measure.
“Just staying ready,” Mathurin said after the game. “Whenever my number is called, go into the game and do the right things and try to help my team win — that’s the whole mindset.”
Mathurin is playing in the playoffs for the first time, after watching the Pacers’ run to the Eastern Conference finals from the bench in the wake of season-ending surgery in March of 2024.
Carlisle said , the 22-year-old Canadian was looking ahead.
“He was with the team. He just wasn’t playing,” Carlisle recalled. “He took a lot of notes, a lot of mental notes, and he may have written some things down.
“He’s putting a lot of work to be ready for these moments, and tonight he was an absolute major factor.”
Mathurin said he was “fortunate to learn a lot” in what was an unfortunate situation last year but he admitted that it wasn’t easy.
Playing in the finals, in front of the intense fans in Indianapolis, “is a dream” but one he doesn’t want to get caught up in.
“I’m not trying to live in my dream,” he said. “I’m trying to live in the present and make sure the dream ends well, which means winning the next game and winning a championship.”
The Pacers will try to stretch their lead in the best-of-seven championship series when they host game four on Friday before the series heads back to Oklahoma City for game five on Monday.
🏆 GAME 3 FINAL SCORE 🏆
Tyrese Haliburton leads a late @Pacers charge at home to take a 2-1 series lead!
INDIANAPOLIS — Bennedict Mathurin scored 27 points off the bench, Tyrese Haliburton added 22 and the Indiana Pacers reclaimed the lead in the NBA Finals by beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-107 in Game 3 on Wednesday night.
Haliburton also had 11 assists and nine rebounds for the Pacers, who got 21 points from Pascal Siakam and enjoyed a whopping 49-18 edge in bench points. The Pacers, who lost Game 2 in Oklahoma City, improved to 10-0 since mid-March in the game immediately after a loss.
“So many different guys chipped in,” Haliburton said.
Jalen Williams scored 26 points, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 24 and Chet Holmgren had 20 for the Thunder, who led by five going into the fourth.
Game 4 is in Indiana on Friday night.
History says the Pacers are in control of the series now; in the 41 previous NBA Finals that were tied at a game apiece, the Game 3 winner went on to hoist the trophy 33 times — an 80.5% clip.
Oklahoma City forward Chet Holmgren is surrounded by Pacers and fouled by Myles Turner in the second half.
(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)
It was back-and-forth much of the way, at times looking like an absolute classic. There were 15 ties; to put that in perspective, there were 13 ties in the five-game entirety of last year’s finals between Boston and Dallas. The last time there was a finals game with more ties: Game 1 between Cleveland in Golden State in 2018, which was knotted 17 times.
TJ McConnell finished with 10 points, five assists and five steals for Indiana; since all those stats started being charted, nobody had ever come off the bench and done that in an NBA Finals game.
“We just had guys make plays after plays,” Haliburton said. “Our bench was amazing.”
The Pacers’ Aaron Nesmith fouled Alex Caruso — a hard foul, for certain — with 2:35 left, and officials took a long look to determine if it met the criteria for a flagrant foul. A common foul was the final call and instead of two free throws plus the ball, it was just two free throws for Caruso. He made both, cutting the lead to 110-104.
But the Pacers — at home in an NBA Finals game for the first time in 25 years — kept control the rest of the way.
There was never a doubt in Tyrese Haliburton’s mind.
The Indiana Pacers star has done it too often – especially in the 2025 playoffs – to not have confidence in the closing seconds.
Haliburton hit a 20-foot pull-up jumper in the final second on Thursday as the Pacers completed a stunning comeback for a 111-110 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
It was the 25-year-old’s fourth big-time shot in the closing seconds during this year’s playoffs.
The Pacers hadn’t led in Thursday’s finals opener until Halliburton drained his latest clutch hoop with 0.3 seconds remaining.
“Ultimate confidence in himself,” Indiana’s Myles Turner said of Haliburton. “Some players will say they have it, but there are other players that show it … He wants to be the one to hit that shot. He doesn’t shy away from that moment.”
In Game 5 of the first round of the playoffs, Haliburton cut through the lane to hit a driving layup with 1.3 seconds left in overtime, giving the Pacers a win and ending the series against the Milwaukee Bucks.
In Game 2 of the second round, he hit a step-back 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining to put Indiana up one and put the Cleveland Cavaliers into a 2-0 hole.
Then in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, Haliburton hit another step-back shot that appeared to be the game-winner initially but was changed to a two that forced overtime against the New York Knicks. Indiana eventually won.
The Thursday shot merely continued the pattern.
Haliburton #0 of the Indiana Pacers shoots the game-winning basket against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals [Morgan Givens/Getty Images via AFP]
Indiana trailed by as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter, and though the Pacers cut the deficit to one in the closing seconds, the Thunder had the ball in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s hands with a chance to put the Pacers away.
However, Andrew Nembhard guarded the league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) tenaciously, helping to force a missed fadeaway from Gilgeous-Alexander that opened the door for Haliburton’s heroics.
With 11 seconds left, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle trusted his team and didn’t take a timeout.
Haliburton worked his way down the court against Oklahoma City’s Cason Wallace, driving just inside the 3-point arc before pulling up for a shot that briefly rattled around the rim before dropping through.
“I had a pretty good idea,” Haliburton said when asked whether he knew the shot was good.
Indiana won despite turning the ball over 25 times in Game 1.
“It’s not the recipe to win,” Haliburton said. “We can’t turn the ball over that much … (but) come May and June, it doesn’t matter how you get ’em, just get ’em.”
The best-of-seven series resumes with Game 2 on Sunday in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander #2 scored a game-high 38 points in a losing effort [William Purnell/Getty Images via AFP]
Thunder to try level series in Game 2
“The series isn’t first to one, it’s first to four,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “So we have four more games to get. They have three, and that’s just where we are.”
Game 1 was a gut punch for the Thunder, who led from the start and got 38 points from Gilgeous-Alexander.
Oklahoma City managed just 11 points off the Pacers’ giveaways, including just nine off Indiana’s 20 first-half turnovers.
The Pacers trailed by 15 early in the fourth quarter before chipping away at the deficit. Nembhard and Myles Turner each scored eight points in the period.
Indiana cut the deficit to one with 48.6 seconds remaining on Pascal Siakam’s putback following a missed 3-point attempt by Nembhard.
Siakam led the Pacers with 19 points and added 10 rebounds. Obi Toppin had 17 points off the bench, Turner scored 15 and Nembhard had 14. Haliburton finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
For Oklahoma City, Jalen Williams contributed 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting while Chet Holmgren was just 2 of 9 for six points.
The Thunder led 94-79 with 9:42 remaining, but Indiana wasn’t about to go away.
The Pacers ripped off a 15-4 run to stay within striking distance, and then they surged ahead late.
Oklahoma City hit just one field goal in the final four minutes, giving the Pacers the opening to come back.
“We played like we were trying to keep the lead instead of trying to extend it or be aggressive,” Williams said.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Tyrese Haliburton and the never-say-die Indiana Pacers pulled off yet another last-second comeback, this time on the NBA’s biggest stage.
Haliburton’s 21-foot jumper with 0.3 seconds left gave Indiana its first and only lead of the game, and the Pacers stunned the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-110 on Thursday night in Game 1 of the NBA Finals after a comeback for the ages.
“Man, basketball’s fun,” Haliburton said. “Winning is fun.”
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Especially like this.
The Pacers turned the ball over 25 times, trailed by 15 points in the fourth quarter against a team with the best home record in the NBA and had no answers for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — the NBA MVP who led all scorers with 38 points.
But they had the league’s new Mr. Big Shot, who has now had one of these moments in every series the Pacers have played in these playoffs.
— April 29, Indiana trailed Milwaukee 118-111 with 34.6 seconds left in overtime. Haliburton scored with 1.4 seconds remaining and the Pacers won 119-118.
— May 6, Indiana trailed Cleveland 119-112 with 48 seconds left and won 120-119. Haliburton got the winner with 1.1 seconds to play.
— May 21, Indiana trailed New York 121-112 with 51.1 seconds left in regulation. Haliburton sent it to overtime on a jumper with no time on the clock; Indiana won 138-135.
Now, this.
“We’ve had lots of experience in these kinds of games,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.
The Pacers were down by 15 with 9:42 left, their rally the biggest in the fourth quarter of a finals game since Dallas also came from 15 down to beat Miami on June 2, 2011.
Carlisle coached those Mavericks. And, well, here he is again.
“That’s a really good team,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. “Credit them for not only tonight but their run. They’ve had so many games like that that have seemed improbable. And they just play with a great spirit and they keep coming. They keep playing.”
Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 19 points. Obi Toppin scored 17, Myles Turner had 15, and Haliburton and Andrew Nembhard each had 14.
Jalen Williams had 17 and Lu Dort scored 15 for Oklahoma City, which was 36-1 at home with 15-point leads this season.
Game 2 is at Oklahoma City on Sunday night.
Oklahoma City led by 15 early in the fourth when Carlisle called time and subbed out all five players, seeking a spark. It worked. The Pacers outscored the Thunder 15-4 over the next 3:26 — getting within 98-94 on a three by Turner with 6:16 left.
They weren’t done. And in the final second, they found a way. Again.
“We had control of the game for the most part,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Now, it’s a 48-minute game. And they teach you that lesson more than anyone else in the league — the hard way.”
