Tyrese Haliburton, the star guard for the Indiana Pacers, has officially torn his right Achilles.
With just under 5 minutes left in the first quarter, the star guard was driving to the basket when he suddenly went down to the floor in excruciating pain.
Everyone watched Haliburton screaming and slamming the floor in severe pain as he knew what had just happened, and after replays, the majority of fans knew the same thing.
Prior to that injury, Tyrese Haliburton had 9 points after draining three three-pointers.
“All of our hearts dropped,” said Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle about watching his star player in agony.
While the Pacers channeled their emotions into their play on the court, propelling Indiana to a one-point lead at halftime, the 3Q showed that without Haliburton, the Pacers couldn’t match the Thunder.
And the result was a 103-91 win for OKC and the NBA crown.
This injury didn’t surprise many as Haliburton suffered a calf strain to the same leg in game 5 of the NBA Finals, and even though he played in Game 6, many felt he should have sat Game 6 out, and maybe even Game 7 as they recalled the same thing happen to stars like Kevin Durant and Dame Lillard.
Prior to the game Haliburton mentioned the leg felt stiff and sore but he would lay everything on the line as it was the biggest game of his young career.
Watching Haliburton injure his Achilles is much bigger than him getting hurt and his team losing the NBA Finals.
This injury probably keeps him out for the 2025-26 season, altering the direction of the Indiana Pacers moving forward.
On a larger scale the NBA will have to look into their health and safety of their players as the NBA community saw Jayson Tatum, Dame Lilliard, and now Haliburton all fall victim to the same soft tissue injuries.
