Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton shares tough timeline update after crushing NBA Finals injury

Tyrese Haliburton is not making any optimistic assumptions about his return from an Achilles tear.

Not only will Haliburton, who miss the upcoming season, but the Pacers superstar is also hedging his bets on being ready for the start of the 2026-27 season.

“I think it’ll be 15 months before I play my next game,” Haliburton said on the Impaulsive podcast, which would peg his timeline to November 2026, right around the start of that season.

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An Achilles tear is one of the toughest injuries to recover from, and it usually takes at least a year for athletes to return to competition.

Haliburton wasn’t the only star to suffer the injury last postseason, with Jayson Tatum doing so at Madison Square Garden in a body blow to the Celtics.

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Haliburton, whose Game 1 buzzer-beater against the Knicks forced that contest to overtime and set the tone for an Indiana victory in the conference finals, had a terrific postseason as the talisman for a team that defeated all comers in the Eastern Conference.

Haliburton’s status was up in the air going into Game 7 of the Finals, but he chose to play despite the known risk of an Achilles tear.

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He started off the game well, but went down with the Achilles in the first half of the eventual Thunder’s win.

He said on the podcast that he didn’t regret playing.

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“I had some close friends and family and mentors that said, ‘Shut it down.’ I was like, ‘Hell no. Hell no,’ ” Haliburton said. “I asked (Kevin Durant), ‘Do you regret playing in the game you tore (your Achilles)?’ He said, ‘No, not at all.’ I don’t regret it.

“This isn’t the end. I’m 25.”