CNN
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Indiana Pacers star Tyrees Halliburton will miss the entire 2025-26 NBA season and rehabilitate his torn Achilles heel, the team confirmed Monday.
Halliburton was injured in the first quarter of Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals.
Halliburton posted on social media the next day. The next day he successfully operated on the Achilles tendon, which had been torn in his right leg, vowing to “do everything with my strength and do the right thing.”
On Monday, Basketball Operations Pacer President Kevin Prichard ruled out Halliburton’s participation next season, adding that he is totally confident that the two-time All-Stars will be even stronger.
“There’s no doubt he’ll be back more than ever. The surgery worked out,” Pritchard told the media. “It’s a little higher and he got more blood from it (when he recovers). He won’t play next year. We won’t risk it now.
Halliburton was definitely an NBA playoff star up to that point, offering a magical moment when the Pacers reached the finals.
He led the Pacers in a massive comeback in the final minutes with the New York Knicks, and he produced one of the playoff signing moments in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals as the Buzzer finally hit a tense shot. Indiana ultimately won the game with overtime.
In the finals he recreated those heroes by helping to design a comeback victory against the Thunder on the Road in Game 1.
After being selected by his peers to be the most overrated player in the league early in the season, Halliburton seemed on a mission to prove all suspicious people wrong in the playoffs. He also hit a game-winning shot to beat the Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers in previous rounds.
However, the 25-year-old suffered a nervous right calf midway through the final, which clearly prevented him from success in court. He continued to play amid injuries until his final Achilles drove him out of court early in Game 7.
Although Halliburton himself expressed no regrets about playing with injuries, Pritchard had a different opinion.
“If you’re asking me, will I let him do it over and over? I don’t. I don’t,” Pritchard said. “If I knew he was going to get hurt, I would sacrifice that game because I care so much about my kids and want him to have an incredible career.”
In the final campaign of 73 regular-season games, Halliburton averaged 18.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 9.2 assists per game.
With Halliburton absent, next season appears to be a transitional year for the Pacers.
The team has already lost one of Miles Turner’s stubborn men who spent the first decade of their NBA career in Indiana and signed with the Milwaukee Bucks in the first few days of free agency.
The 29-year-old center has left Pacer as the franchise’s all-time leader on the block, leaving a significant gap in the team’s rotation.
Pritchard told reporters that losing Turner in free agency was a surprise and called him “one of the best players to perform here.”
“I know this, (owner) Herb Simon and (partial owner) Stephen Lahrs and the Simon family were ready to go deep into the taxes to keep him,” Pritchard said. “We really wanted to do that, we were negotiating with sincerity.
“But what happens in this league is that you’re negotiating, but because the guy is unlimited, he has the right to say, ‘That’s the offer I want. I’m going to take it and it’s the best for my family.’ ”
