Indiana Pacers star point guard Tyrese Haliburton suffered an Achilles tendon tear in the team’s Game Seven loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to sources who spoke to ESPN’s Shams Charania. At this time, Haliburton is evaluating different surgical options, but his status for next season is “in jeopardy.”

With 5:03 left in the first quarter of last night’s game, Haliburton caught a pass and began to drive when he fell to the ground and immediately began slapping his hand on the basketball court. When the clock stopped at 4:55, Haliburton could be seen crying and pounding his fist on the ground while talking to a member of the Pacers’ medical staff. Once he was able to get off the court, he limped back to Indiana’s locker room thanks to the help of Pacers staff members with a towel draped over his head. After the game, Haliburton could be seen consoling his teammates while on crutches.

Before suffering the injury, Haliburton went three for five from the field for nine points. Despite only playing seven minutes, he finished with a game-high three made three-pointers.

Pretty unbelievable that you play your whole life, you battle all season, you make all the clutch plays… and you get injured in Game fucking 7 of the NBA Finals after all that… if you don’t feel for Tyrese Haliburton you don’t have a beating heart
pic.twitter.com/CZs78kxz8B

— John Frascella (Football) (@NFLFrascella) June 23, 2025

“What happened with Tyrese… all of our hearts dropped,” said Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle after the loss. “But, he will be back… He’ll be back in time, and I believe he’ll make a full recovery.”

Tyrese Haliburton was arguably the most important player during the Pacers’ impressive 2025 NBA Playoff run. He was second on the team in points (17.3) while leading the squad in minutes (33.6) and assists per game (8.6).

A tragic end to a magical season

It was not supposed to end this way. Admittedly, the NBA had its ups and downs during the 2024-25 season. Between declining viewership and a disastrous NBA All-Star Game, a Finals matchup decided in seven games could have left fans with good memories of this season. But instead of celebrating a fantastic campaign by the Oklahoma City Thunder, who were undoubtedly the best team in the NBA, we are talking about Tyrese Haliburton’s injury and what could have been.

Nobody wanted this to happen, not even the most die-hard Oklahoma City Thunder fan. Every NBA player and fan wanted to see the two best teams in the league battle it out in a Game Seven at full strength. In fact, health is a big reason why both the Thunder and Pacers made it as far as they did. Both teams were able to stave off any serious injury for almost the entire playoffs. Then, last night happened, and it changed the discourse surrounding this season and Oklahoma City’s title run forever.

BRACKET COMPLETE

The Thunder are NBA champions for the first time in the franchise’s OKC era! ⛈️ pic.twitter.com/8CBRd8lOH7

— NBA (@NBA) June 23, 2025

I have already scoured all of the major social media applications, and there is a small but loud group of people who claim that this championship is invalid because of the Haliburton injury. I do not subscribe to that line of thinking whatsoever. Had Haliburton been able to play the entire game, then it is certainly possible the Pacers would be NBA Champions today rather than the Thunder. But that’s not what happened. Haliburton tore his Achilles, and the Thunder won the series. But now, everybody will ask, “What if Tyrese Haliburton hadn’t hurt himself in Game Seven?” every time the 2025 NBA Finals are brought up.

This injury really puts a damper on things. As members of the NBA’s broadcast team pointed out last night, the air was sucked out of the arena the minute Haliburton went down. Maybe that explains the timid celebration from the Oklahoma City Thunder. However, this isn’t OKC’s fault. They can feel bad for Haliburton, but they have to play the team that is in front of them, regardless of who is healthy and who isn’t. Were the Thunder just supposed to lie down and let the Pacers win because Tyrese Haliburton suffered a devastating injury?

This is not how anybody wanted the 2025 NBA Finals to end. But, unfortunately, it happened. Nothing can be done to change the injury. All Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers can do is look forward to next season and hope he can return in time for the playoffs, if they can even make it that far.