Tyrese Haliburton returned to the court on Oct. 7, playing 16 minutes in the Indiana Pacers’ 123-112 preseason win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Ames, Iowa, his first game action since tearing his right Achilles in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals. He finished with seven points and six assists.
The game was also a homecoming at Iowa State University, Haliburton’s alma mater. Students lined up the night before to get into the student section and grab a yellow shirt with his face on it under the nickname “Cyclone Hali.” It was his first game at his college arena in six years.
With 4:27 left in the first quarter, Haliburton checked in for his first stint. He was antsy from the start. On Indiana’s first possession, he fired a no-look pass intended for Andrew Nembhard that sailed out of bounds. On the next trip, he ran a 2-on-1 with Pascal Siakam and finished with a crossover into a 15-foot jumper, his first basket in more than a year.
“I was tired as hell,” Haliburton said with a laugh after the game. “But even through that, I just kept feeling like, ‘Man, I’m playing again.'”
The adrenaline carried him through the night. “I have my own internal expectations,” he said. “But our goal is to win a championship. That has never wavered.”
A Season of Doubt
The Pacers’ future depends on Haliburton’s return. Before his injury, he produced one of the greatest clutch postseason runs in NBA history, hitting a game-tying or game-winning shot in each of the four rounds of the 2025 playoffs. Indiana led in the first quarter of Game 7 in Oklahoma City before he went down, and the Thunder went on to win the title.
While Haliburton recovered, the Pacers won just 19 games during the 2025-26 season, the fewest in franchise history. Despite reaching the conference finals in both 2024 and 2025, Indiana is projected to win 42 games in 2026-27 and ranks 10th in the Eastern Conference, according to the Basketball Power Index.
“I don’t look too much into it,” Haliburton said. “Our whole team can relate to that. We’ve all felt that way one way or another.”
Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan said the team is determined to prove its doubters wrong. “Finding that magic again, that’s no guarantee,” Buchanan said. “But our core guys believe in each other. They feel like people have written them off already. That’s what’s happened those two years we made runs — people just kind of discarded us. That’s what fuels them.”
Life Off the Court
Before training camp, Haliburton visited children at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis as a spokesperson for the Indiana Donor Network, which promotes organ donation. The five kids in attendance had all received kidney transplants, and some were as young as 6. Over coloring sheets, they debated their favorite colors. When Haliburton said his favorite was gray, the kids recoiled. “You never hear that, huh?” he said with a smile.
Haliburton spent much of the past year in Indianapolis on community projects. He also helped the Pacers revitalize their charity softball game this summer, which drew a packed crowd to Victory Field. He was born in Wisconsin, met and proposed to his wife, Jade, in Ames, and has deepened his ties to the Midwest since the Pacers acquired him in 2022.
“It’s a different perspective on life now,” he said. “I’m just thankful to be playing basketball again and to be doing all the different things that I can do in the community, because when something like that happens, it’s like your life flashes before your eyes.”
Recovery was harder than he expected. On his first vacation after surgery, he could barely walk down the stairs of a rented house and needed help getting around. He wept in the shower. “Just having to come to terms with going from being on top of the world to the complete opposite of that in an instance,” he said.
He also dealt with a severe case of shingles mid-rehab. The heavy medication caused him to gain 30 pounds and suffer severe facial swelling, and the contagious illness kept him away from his teammates on the bench. Buchanan praised his mindset. “Ty is wired to know what does the team need from me, rather than what I need to do for the team.”
During the lonely recovery, Haliburton sometimes rewatched his old highlights. “Just to feel something,” he said. “I once could do that. I miss that feeling.” He also rewatched the 2025 Finals, focusing on Game 4, when the Pacers led the series 2-1 before Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 15 of his 35 points in the final 4:38. “Game 4 will forever live in my brain,” Haliburton said. “You win that game, the whole series changes.”
Rebuilding the Habits
Haliburton does not want the Pacers to forget last season. “You can take [our preseason rankings] as disrespect, but at the same time, you got to understand we put ourselves in that position by the way we played last year,” he said. “There’s standards that we didn’t meet that we got to get back to. And there’s no secret that there was a drop-off last year.”
Coach Rick Carlisle has focused the team on reclaiming those habits. The Pacers’ most important word in their recent meeting was “reclaim.” Carlisle warned against viewing Haliburton as a savior. “We’re always going to be better as the sum of all the parts,” he said.
Most of the core remains intact, including Haliburton, Siakam, Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith. The main change came at the trade deadline, when Indiana acquired Ivica Zubac to replace the departed Myles Turner, a deal that cost the Pacers the No. 5 pick in the draft. Team sources believe Zubac will help reopen the championship window, though his game differs from Turner’s. Zubac plays closer to the basket, while Turner stretched the floor with 3-point shooting.
The fit could take time. Haliburton and Zubac have struggled with timing in pick-and-rolls, with Haliburton often turning the corner before his new center can roll. “He’s so anxious to prove to people,” Buchanan said. “He’s like, ‘I’ve been out 16 effing months. I’m ready to play.’ There’s going to be a ramp-up for him as just getting his feet, groove and rhythm back.”
In his first game back, Haliburton moved like his former self at times, but he also showed rust. He compared himself to a rookie, playing too fast. He tweaked his right ankle and sat out the next preseason game, though an MRI confirmed his Achilles was unaffected. “I was hyped to be out there, excited, but I just got to slow down a little bit,” he said.
Several moments this summer have boosted his confidence. In late July, 13 months after surgery, he tossed a ball toward the basket, chased it down and dunked with his right hand after a between-the-legs dribble, a move he had not regularly made since his rookie year. He had a running bet with strength and conditioning coach Erik Huddleston that he could skip his post-practice workout if he completed the dunk. He posted the video to social media, sending a clear message to the league.
A quieter moment during minicamp in Los Angeles may have mattered more. During a scrimmage, Haliburton fell to the floor. Months earlier, the entire gym would have fallen silent, waiting for him to rise. This time, he got up, and the game continued.
“That,” he said, “makes me feel normal again.”