Haliburton announced via his personal X account that he participated in 5-on-5 work Wednesday. Although Indiana's campaign is nearly over and it's been known since July that Haliburton would not suit up this season, this marks an important step in the star point guard's rehab. The 26-year-old suffered a torn right Achilles tendon in last year's Game 7 loss to the Thunder in the NBA Finals, and he'll hope to get back on the floor by Opening Night of the 2026-27 campaign.
Haliburton said Tuesday in his appearance on the "Mind the Game" podcast that he has resumed taking part in 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 work while he continues to recover from right Achilles surgery. Back in July, the Pacers ruled Haliburton out for the 2025-26 season shortly after the star point guard underwent surgery to address the Achilles tendon he tore in Indiana's loss to Oklahoma City in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. While the Pacers' stance with Haliburton doesn't appear to have changed amid a non-contending season, the 25-year-old is seemingly coming along even faster than anticipated during his rehab process. If Haliburton is able to advance to 5-on-5 work by the spring, he'll likely be in line for a relatively normal offseason and should be free of restrictions for the start of training camp next fall.
Haliburton will miss the entire 2025-26 season while recovering from surgery on his right Achilles tendon, Shams Charania of ESPN reports. Haliburton tore his right Achilles in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on June 22 and underwent surgery the following day. Any hope of a return during the 2025-26 campaign was shut down Monday, when Pacers president Kevin Pritchard stated plainly, "He will not play next year though. We would not jeopardize that now. So don't get any hopes up that he will play." Haliburton has cemented himself as the face of the franchise and played a key role in Indiana's run to the NBA Finals during the 2024-25 playoffs, averaging 17.3 points, 8.6 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 33.5 minutes across 23 postseason games. During the 2024-25 regular season, the 2020 first-round pick averaged 18.6 points, 9.2 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals over 73 appearances.