Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals — the kind of injury that ends a season before it starts one, and that typically takes 12 to 18 months to fully come back from. The Pacers confirmed early on that he'd miss the entire 2025-26 season. There was never a shortcut on the table. Just the long version.
What the Long Version Actually Looked Like
Haliburton went into the injury at 180 pounds. Nearly a year into recovery, he's up to 210 — 30 pounds heavier, some of it deliberate, some of it, by his own admission, cookies and ice cream during the parts of rehab where the court wasn't an option. But he's not trying to lose all of it back. "I'm trying to focus on through my rehab...is just being more physical,"he said — the extra size is meant to stay, aimed at drawing more contact at the rim and playing a heavier game than the one he tore his Achilles running.
By this January, he'd progressed to full-court 4-on-4 against team interns and reserves. Then a shingles diagnosis — unrelated to the Achilles, but no less disruptive — halted his planned return to 5-on-5 work right around the All-Star break. Recovery from a major tendon injury isn't a straight line. Setbacks that have nothing to do with the original injury still cost you time.
Asked how the process has felt, Haliburton didn't dress it up: "The process has sucked... There's been good days, bad days."
What He's Coming Back To
The Pacers are rebuilding around his return. Pascal Siakam is back. Indiana added Kelly Oubre Jr. and Larry Nance Jr. for depth after a 19-63 season without their All-Star point guard. The team is "extremely optimistic," per league sources, that Haliburton will be ready for opening night of the 2026-27 season — a road game against the New Orleans Pelicans on October 21, with the home opener against Dallas on October 23 carrying all the weight of a guard finally back on his own floor.
The Recovery Story Underneath the Comeback Story
A torn Achilles is one of the few injuries in sports where "recovered" doesn't just mean healed — it means rebuilt. Haliburton didn't just wait out a timeline. He used the months where he couldn't play to change what kind of player he'd be when he could. That's the whole PUSH thesis in one guard's rehab: recovery isn't the pause between the work. Done right, it's part of the work.