Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers is still rehabilitating from the season-ending injury he suffered last season. Haliburton was sensational for the Pacers during their playoff run last year. As the No. 4 seed, Indiana first defeated Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks 4-1 in the opening round before upsetting Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Conference semifinals 4-1.
Haliburton rose in his stardom after he led the Pacers to a 4-2 series win over Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals. Haliburton was clutch all playoffs, notably hitting the game-winning shot in Game 1 against the Knicks, establishing his "clutch gene" to the league.
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After defeating New York to make it to the NBA Finals, Indiana was a heavy underdog against the Western Conference representative, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his 68-14 Oklahoma City Thunder. The Pacers made it a series, even taking the Thunder to a Game 7. Only a few minutes into Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals, Haliburton tragically suffered a torn right Achilles. The Pacers wound up losing that game 103-91, and their 6-foot-5 star guard would go on to miss the entirety of the 2025-26 NBA season.
Indiana suffered without their star guard, going 19-63 and finishing with the second-worst record in the 2025-26 NBA regular season, only behind the 17-65 Washington Wizards. As the season comes to a close, Haliburton has been ramping up his rehab. On Wednesday, he announced he was participating on 5-on-5 drills. On Monday, Haliburton spoke with reporters on his rehabilitation process. He details his battle with shingles, a virus that causes painful blister on the skin. The former Iowa State Cyclone says he lost part of his eyebrow, has been dealing with weight gain, and is unsure on when the nerve pain will subside.
"I've lost like part of my eyebrow, my eye is always swollen from pitching it," Haliburton said. "I have good days and bad days, but for the most part, it’s been bad days. It has not been any fun. I'm still honestly dealing with it. I’ve been taking unbelievable amounts of medication to try to get rid of it. It hasn’t worked. It's obviously caused me to gain weight and look a little bigger, so that's been a topic of conversation through social media, but what can you do. It’s not been fun, and hopefully it goes away soon. It’s hard to really tell with nerve pain, but I’ve been dealing now with nerve pain for two months, and in the world of nerve pain, that’s not very long. Hopefully, it goes away soon.”
The 2026 NBA Draft Lottery is expected to begin on May 10. The Pacers are tied with the Wizards and the Brooklyn Nets at 14% for the highest odds to receive the No. 1 pick in the upcoming 2026 NBA Draft.
