What Happened to the Indiana Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton?
The Pacers All-Star went down in the first quarter of Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
The Indiana Pacers' hopes for an NBA title were dashed Sunday night when the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated them by double-digits in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals, claiming the franchise's first championship since 1979. But for many Indiana fans and players, things grew dark long before the final minutes of the game, when the Pacers' All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton went down with a leg injury.
During the first quarter of Game 7, Haliburton went down hard while driving toward the basket, slapping the court beneath him as he grimaced in very visible, extreme pain. He did not return for the rest of the game, leaving Indiana without its most prominent weapon and its best clutch player. So, what happened? Here's what we know.
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What happened to Tyrese Haliburton in Game 7 of the NBA Finals?
Early reports indicate Haliburton suffered a torn right Achilles tendon in Game 7.
Heading into Game 7, Haliburton was already batting injury. He left the court during Game 5 of the Finals last week with a strained right calf, and while he would return for Game 6's dominant win over the Thunder, soreness and stiffness persisted. Still, Haliburton was determined to make it to the court for Game 7, which is when disaster struck.
Without any contact from Thunder players, Haliburton fell to the ground while dribbling during the first quarter, immediately screaming in pain and slapping the court as Pacers staff members rushed to his side. He was carried off with his head wrapped in a towel, putting no weight on his injured right foot, and replays showed a visible pop along the back of his lower right leg just before he fell.
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Haliburton would stay in the Pacers locker room for the rest of the game, watching alongside his family and cheering his team on as the Pacers held a tight game throughout the second quarter and part of the third. Late in the game, though, the Thunder pulled away, and the Pacers were never able to recover. Haliburton, now on crutches, waited for his teammates in the tunnel after the game, embracing each of them as they passed through to the locker room.
Before Sunday's end, reports surfaced that Haliburton had suffered an Achilles injury, but no one knew how severe things were until midday Monday, when ESPN's Shams Charania reported that the injury was indeed a torn right Achilles tendon.
Achilles injuries are severe for even the strongest athletes, and tears mean a very long road to full recovery. It's now virtually certain that Haliburton will not play at the start of the 2025-2026 season, and may miss the entire year depending on his own recovery needs. That puts one of the league's best players, and the Pacers' biggest star, on the bench for at least the rest of the year, probably longer, dealing a serious blow to the team's chances of repeating as Eastern Conference champions.
For more on this story, head to NBC Sports.
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