Tyrese Haliburton played in an NBA game for the first time in 472 days on October 7, when the Indiana Pacers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 123-112 in a preseason game at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa — Haliburton's college arena at Iowa State. He tore his right Achilles tendon in the first quarter of Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals against Oklahoma City and missed all of the 2025-26 season recovering.
Haliburton played 16 minutes, all in the first half, and finished with 7 points on 3-of-8 shooting, 6 assists, 2 blocks, and 1 steal. Indiana shot 53% from the field as a team and recorded 39 assists. Aaron Nesmith led the Pacers with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting, Jay Huff scored 16, and Jarace Walker added 10 assists.
The Iowa State crowd gave Haliburton a standing ovation before tipoff; he wore his college No. 22 during pregame introductions and bought tickets for the student section through a university lottery. He met his wife, Jade, at Iowa State and later proposed to her on the Hilton Coliseum court. He played just 22 games for the Cyclones before a season-ending injury in 2019-20 but still earned All-Big 12 Second Team honors, and in 2024 became the eighth former Iowa State athlete to win an Olympic gold medal, as part of Team USA in Paris.
Three days later, coach Rick Carlisle ruled Haliburton out of a preseason game against Atlanta hours before tipoff after he suffered what Carlisle called a "mild tweak" of his right ankle — unrelated to the surgically repaired Achilles on the same leg. Carlisle said an MRI "looks really good." Haliburton said at media day he is "100%" with "no restrictions," though the team has managed his preseason workload cautiously. Indiana opens its regular season October 21 at home against the New Orleans Pelicans, the first game back at Gainbridge Fieldhouse since Haliburton's injury ended the Pacers' 2025 Finals run against Oklahoma City in seven games.
Feature image: Haliburton at a recent Indianapolis Colts game appearance, not game action from this story. Photo: Indianapolis Colts.
Source: ESPN
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