Editor’s Note: Read more NBA coverage from The Athletic here. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its teams.
***
Tyrese Haliburton was experiencing a new kind of loneliness.
His Pacers teammates were off on summer vacations, putting behind them a gutting Game 7 loss in the NBA Finals weeks earlier. He saw everyone experiencing the joys of the offseason whenever he picked up his phone. Their normally jubilant star point guard, though, had been left behind.
“I don’t say I’m stuck in Indiana,” Haliburton recalled to The Athletic, “but I was here rehabbing, and I’m in the gym by myself with nobody else in there.”
Worse yet, he was forced to relive that historic loss with every movement, courtesy of a torn right Achilles he suffered midway through that game. Memories of his body crumpled on the court are always close — he still can’t scroll through Instagram or TikTok without being reminded of it.
“I think about it every time I blink,” he said of the injury. “I think about it all the time.”
Injury rehabilitation, he was learning, was isolating and monotonous. The gym sounds cavernous and thoughts echo in your mind.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever not think about it,” he said, “but you gotta understand that you’ve got to move on.”
But it has been tough to move on. For a person whose game is predicated on movement and transition, sitting still has been difficult. Haliburton was limited in his movement, repeating his rehab routine day in and day out at the Pacers’ practice facility.
“It just became sad after some time because I just want to be able to do what I normally do and I wasn’t able to do that,” he said. “I had to get approved to even go on vacation, because I had to be able to get the right treatment, and my leg had to be OK for me to fly.”
But last summer was last summer. Now closer to his return to playing shape, Haliburton is able to reflect on the journey back with new clarity. And as Haliburton has diligently worked to return to the player he was before, he has also discovered new layers to himself. Creative pursuits. A community he didn’t know he had. It’s all the silver lining to the darkest chapter of his basketball life.
“I think what I’ve learned in the last 12 months, maybe a little longer than that,” he said, “is that it takes a village and it’s OK to not be OK.”
Growing up in small town Oshkosh, Wis., Haliburton had always dreamed of bringing a championship to some city, somewhere. He’d always wanted to stand out on the court. In elementary school, he asked for a pair of pink basketball shoes, long before they would become popular, in hopes of being the kid everyone recognized.
And now after getting so close, he was, in a sense, starting over.
“The first couple months when he literally couldn’t walk were the hardest,” Jade Jones, Haliburton’s fiancée, told The Athletic. “Tyrese doesn’t ever stop. He’s never experienced an injury like this in his career so it’s been an adjustment for him to be able to play basketball. It was something we’ve never had to overcome before.
“That was a struggle.”
Rehabbing from an Achilles rupture and surgery requires dedication for optimal recovery but athletes have to be reasonable in their expectations as the process of re-strengthening the tendon can take up to a year after surgery. There’s no guarantee of a 100-percent return to pre-injury performance.
The only thing Haliburton could do was work.
Jones, a constant at Pacers games, has been by Haliburton’s side since college. With his teammates away for the offseason and Haliburton unable to do much, Jones, along with friends and family, circled tighter around the injured star.
“Tyrese is so easy to support because he’s just a happy human being,” Jones said. “There are hard days and I just feel like we’re trying to focus on what we can control in the situation and what we can look forward to. …He was so excited to come home and tell me that he shot a free throw. We can’t control his injury, but we’ve accepted it for what it is.
“We celebrate his wins.”
Even with his loved ones’ support, Haliburton experienced low points: being unable to walk, to run, to lob a pass down court to one of his teammates. Those around him couldn’t relate to mentally knowing what his body should be able to do, waiting for it to get there again. Instead of retreating inward and letting the sadness and anxiety overtake his thoughts, he found comfort in talking honestly and candidly with family, friends and the Pacers sports therapist.
“It’s been tough,” Haliburton said. “Honestly, there’ve been a lot of good days and a lot of bad days, and I’ve struggled with it a little bit.”
But Haliburton has leaned on his community throughout – and even made some big moves to solidify it. In late July, he proposed to Jade on the basketball court at Iowa State University where they first met. There were roses and lights, as Haliburton got down on one knee — with his injury scooter close by.
Haliburton’s village has grown in other ways, too.
Players who have suffered the same injury often reach out to each other to offer advice and support. So throughout his recovery, Haliburton has been in touch with a new kind of brotherhood: Celtics star Jayson Tatum, future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant and Pelicans All-Star Dejounte Murray. Some of them he already knew well; others became more recently bonded by the shared experience.
Durant, who suffered an Achilles tear during Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals, after he returned from a calf strain, was one of the first people Haliburton spoke with after his injury.
Haliburton and Celtics star Jayson Tatum, who tore his Achilles in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season, share advice on how to cope with their injuries.
“Me and Jayson talk a lot,” Haliburton said. “Dejounte has been great for me. We didn’t really have that cool of a relationship, it was just an NBA relationship, but Dejounte has checked on me so much since I’ve gotten hurt.
“Dejounte’s just a solid dude and I appreciate him very much.”
Tatum and Murray share advice, encouragement and status updates on their individual recoveries with Haliburton. They understand the isolation, the determination to get back and the anxiety that can creep in. Each is at a different phase of the road back but their shared routines make it easier for them to check on one another.
“I think that this Achilles thing, it brings people closer together, and I think that’s important. And in the NBA, there’s a few of us going through the same thing and us being able to check on each other is important,” Haliburton said. “There’s guys in the NFL that have reached out to ask where I am in the process, and how have I been able to get through it.”
When Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones suffered an Achilles tear on Dec. 7, Haliburton quickly asked around for Jones’ number.
“We talked a little bit. But there’s never really words that can help,” Haliburton said. “It sucks.”
Without basketball dominating his schedule the same way it typically does in-season, Haliburton has explored interests he didn’t previously have time for.
In December, Amazon Prime announced his addition as a player contributor to its NBA coverage. The role allows Haliburton to stay engaged with hoops and see the game in ways he hasn’t in the past.
“Just being able to talk about the game with people, and not always having to be so critical of players, but just how we can talk about the game and put today’s players in the right limelight,” he said of his role.
Along with his best friend and videographer, Zachery Remy, Haliburton has also been creating short documentary-style video blogs as he works toward rehab. And he’s started a gaming YouTube channel and Twitch account with his younger brother, Marcel, nerding out on Call of Duty and WWE 2K25.
“The world of content creation has been fun for me,” said Haliburton, who turns 26 next month. “I love that world, especially in 2025. I feel like content is always going to be king, and that’s why I love being mic’d up for games. I love all those things because I feel like the more that people get to see our personalities, the more that it humanizes us, which is important.”
Haliburton has also been using his free time to learn to DJ. An avid rap fan, he livestreamed himself DJing a mashup of rapper Tay-K’s “The Race” with Drake’s “Come Thru”. Jones said he’s started carrying his equipment on Pacers road trips so he can practice in his hotel room.
Summer of new hobbies lol pic.twitter.com/tgHGPCroae
— Tyrese Haliburton (@Hali) September 1, 2025
“That’s kept me busy,” Haliburton said. “That’s been exciting for me to chase some more interests other than not being able to be on the floor.”
He also pointed toward his work with Puma, his shoe sponsor.
“I’m always creating colorways, always coming up with ideas for Puma about things that we can do in the clothing space, in the shoe space, and the basketball world,” he said. “All those endeavors have been exciting for me and I’ve been able to pursue them even deeper with me not being able to play.”
Since his teammates have returned to Indiana, Haliburton hasn’t been so lonely. He’s back at the team practice facility and it’s filled with the familiar sounds of the regular season.
On a typical day, Haliburton arrives between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. and spends three and a half hours before practice doing cardio, lifting and working to strengthen his calf, working with trainers Carl Eaton and Justin Tallard. Through his recovery time so far, he’s learned to focus on the things he can control.
“There’s days where time feels like it’s flying by,” Haliburton said. “And there’s days where it feels like they can’t move any slower. I go through the ebbs and flows of it, but I feel really good. It’s been good for me to kind of be away a little bit, but I’m progressing really well. I’m really excited about my progress.
“I think our whole organization is excited about my progress and sometimes when I’m on the court coaches will come out and watch me work out, or the guys from the front office will watch me work out. I think people are excited to see the progress that I’m making, and that excites me, because I’ve really attacked this really hard, and I’m not working this hard for no reason.”
Haliburton talks on the Pacers bench during a game in December.
Haliburton has returned to the Pacers bench on game days — this time as more of a player-coach.
“He’s such a smart player whether it’s in film, practice or a game,” Pacers reserve point guard TJ McConnell said. “He’s always dissecting the game, breaking it down. That’s why he’s so good.
“Hearing his voice and his leadership has been amazing.”
Haliburton reads play sheets with coaches and asks teammates what they’re seeing on the court so he can offer guidance. He continues to take his role as leader as seriously as he can, while understanding his teammates are seeing the game differently because of being on the floor.
Despite the way the season is going without him, at just 9-31 the season after a finals berth, Haliburton wants them to know he’s still in it with them.
“He’s still talking to everybody and making sure everybody’s head is good,” Pacers wing Obi Toppin said, “just making sure everybody’s staying on the right track even though we’re not having the greatest season this year.
“I feel like we’ve built a culture here and he understands that.”
It’s been more than six months since he sat in a locker room in Oklahoma City with a towel over his head, concealing his tears from prying cameras. Haliburton can walk again. He’s no longer miming shooting; he’s back at practice, he’s dunking.
With each recovery milestone, he and Jones celebrate. Haliburton has moved forward. His mind is on his future, the injury is now his past.
“I feel like everybody in the NBA has a lot of success, you have to have a little bit of a delusional confidence, unshakable confidence to do something great,” Haliburton said. “I feel like all the greats can relate to that. That’s just where I am.
“I want to be great and I understand what it takes to get there. I don’t ever think twice about it. This is what I want and I’m gonna work like hell to get to it. I want you to say I’m one of the greats.”
And his village continues to lift him up.
“He put his body on the line and sacrificed not playing a whole year of the game he loves,” Jones said. “He left it all out there. I’m really proud of him.
“It’s not the outcome we wanted but I’m glad that he has no regrets, because I think he would do it all over again.”
That moment from Game 7 still plays in a loop on social media, but Haliburton is no longer the lonely guy shooting in a gym by himself, trying to think of anything else.
“I have to just understand — obviously ours is a little bit more dramatic — but there’ve been a lot of people who have lost in that (NBA Finals) stage and have had to work to get back there,” he said. “And sometimes you don’t get back there. That’s just the way it goes. I understand how hard I’m gonna have to work to get back there, and I plan on that.
“So I’m excited about the journey that it’ll take to get back there, and I think that’ll make it feel even better. That’s what I think about more than anything.”
***
Shakeia Taylor is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the NBA. Before joining The Athletic, she worked as a sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune. Follow Shakeia on Twitter @curlyfro