Tyrese Haliburton’s Dad Gives An Injury Update During Game 7 Of The NBA Finals

In a gut-wrenching moment, Indiana Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton suffered a serious leg injury during the first quarter of Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night. Midway through the opening quarter, Haliburton attempted to drive to the basket, fell to the floor and was in immense pain as he pounded on the floor. He remained on the court before being helped off.

The immediate fear among fans was that Haliburton had suffered an Achilles injury, given that it was the same leg on which he had strained his calf in Game 5. Haliburton’s father, John, through ESPN’s Lisa Salters, confirmed that the Pacers star had indeed suffered an Achilles injury.

“Mike, I just spoke to Tyrese Haliburton’s father, who has been back in the locker room with his son,” Salters said. “Mr. Haliburton confirmed that it is an Achilles injury.”

“And he said that Tyrese is doing as well as he can be under the circumstances. The entire family is back there with him. His mom, his dad, his brother. He said that he seems to be in good spirits watching the game, and he’s trying to root on his team back in the locker room.”

Though the Pacers managed to keep the game close into the third quarter, the Oklahoma City Thunder pulled away by the end of the third quarter and went on to win the championship.

The Pacers and Haliburton’s season ended in absolutely heartbreaking fashion, but after the loss, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle praised Haliburton for putting in an all-time performance during their improbable postseason run.

“What happened with Tyrese, just all of our hearts dropped,” Carlisle told reporters. “He will be back. I don’t have any medical information about what may or may not have happened, but he’ll be back in time. I believe he’ll make a full recovery. He authored one of the great individual playoff runs in the history of the NBA with dramatic play after dramatic play. It was just something that no one’s ever seen, and did it as one of 17. That’s the beautiful thing about him. As great of a player as he is, it’s always a team thing. Our hearts go out to him.”