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Tyrese Haliburton was a recent guest on Impaulsive, hosted by Logan Paul. Haliburton touched on a lot of topics, including when he might suit up again in an NBA game.

When asked how when he might play again, Haliburton indicated it would be ahead of 2026 training camp.

"I think it'll be 15 months until I play my next game," the Pacers star said.

That timeline from injury to return would put Haliburton in line to be ready for training camp ahead of the 2026-27 season. That would be roughly 15 months from tearing his Achilles' tendon in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals on June 22.

It's been expected that Haliburton would miss the entire 2025-26 NBA season. Recovery from a torn Achilles' is usual a year-long process. Because the injury occurred at the latest possible point last season, it was always likely Indiana will be without their star guard this season.

Haliburton also detailed the process he went through leading up to the Game 7 injury.

"I've had calf strains before, and I met with the doctor. He said, 'In the regular season, I would tell you to sit two to three weeks', but it's the Finals," Haliburton said about the diagnosis. "And I'm like, 'What the (expletive)? You think I’m going to sit down?' I'm not going to say who, but I had some close friends, family, and mentors in my life call me after Game 5 and say: 'Hey, shut it down.'"

Haliburton was clear that he has no regrets about playing in Game 7, despite the strained calf diagnosis.

"No. Hell no. Hell no. I’ll be honest: I called KD after I got my MRI after Game 5. I said, 'Bro, do you regret playing in the game you tore (your Achilles')?' He said, 'No, not at all.' I was like, 'Alright.'," Haliburton said of talking to Kevin Durant. "Yeah, I wasn’t going to switch anyway, so I’m glad he said that. It made me feel a little bit better. But no, I don’t regret it, bro."

Via Impaulsive Podcast

KD is a great guy to look to for comfort/advice

Ouch! That's an abnormally long time for an Achilles.

TheCage4 wrote:KD is a great guy to look to for comfort/advice

Actually he is...Granted he's a cupcake off the court but that dudes a hooper who loves basketball.

It's tough. On one hand, you're in the NBA Finals and you never know when or if you'll get back there so I understand the need to roll the dice. On the other hand, keeping together teams that can make it back there isn't easy and by risking it (and losing) he took himself and his team out of contention for next year. Will the team hold together for 2 years from now? Plus, even if you come back "fully healthy" everyone knows you're never truly 100% again from an injury like that. So that's going to diminish you even when you do come back, and to some extent for the rest of your career. He's young and probably still has a great career in front of him but it's a hell of a risk to take.

Barcs wrote:Ouch! That's an abnormally long time for an Achilles.

Not really. If he came back in the expected 12 months it would mean that IND somehow made the Finals without him.

dubbmotta wrote:

TheCage4 wrote:KD is a great guy to look to for comfort/advice

Actually he is...Granted he's a cupcake off the court but that dudes a hooper who loves basketball.

And he has ruined whatever legacy he may have ever had by ring chasing and failing in forming a super team.

TheCage4 wrote:

dubbmotta wrote:

TheCage4 wrote:KD is a great guy to look to for comfort/advice

Actually he is...Granted he's a cupcake off the court but that dudes a hooper who loves basketball.

And he has ruined whatever legacy he may have ever had by ring chasing and failing in forming a super team.

Doubt he cares about his legacy..dude has made over 300 Million and the players still come to him for advice. I'm not a KD fan but people gotta stop thinking that todays players give a damn about thier legacy..they care about there money and happiness.

Pickled Prunes wrote:

Barcs wrote:Ouch! That's an abnormally long time for an Achilles.

Not really. If he came back in the expected 12 months it would mean that IND somehow made the Finals without him.

So I guess he's just assuming he's not playing the whole year and using those 3 months as the time until training camp. That makes more sense, because there have been players who come back from that injury in 4-5 months (IE Cam Akers). Basketball might be a little harder to rehab an Achilles than football, though, not sure.

dubbmotta wrote:

TheCage4 wrote:

dubbmotta wrote:Actually he is...Granted he's a cupcake off the court but that dudes a hooper who loves basketball.

And he has ruined whatever legacy he may have ever had by ring chasing and failing in forming a super team.

Doubt he cares about his legacy..dude has made over 300 Million and the players still come to him for advice. I'm not a KD fan but people gotta stop thinking that todays players give a damn about thier legacy..they care about there money and happiness.

Yup, KD is totally fine with how his basketball career played out. Fans throwing out "but but but he ruined his legacy" on everything anyways these days, as if realgms opinion actually matters. when KD enters an arena the crowd loves him. so yea, all this yapping on the internet really has no effect on him or his decisions. i kinda respect KD for that.

I don't understand why players in this situation don't realize they aren't 100% and get the coach to use them in a different way in acknowledgement of that fact. KD in 2019 should have been limited to no more than 20MPG in a lightly used bench role with him just standing in the corner and shooting 3s, then hidden on the defensive end as much as possible. Instead they played him like he was 100% and, not surprisingly, the result was a severe injury that cost him a whole season.

Same thing with Haliburton, maybe instead of treating him like he's 100% they could have just used him as an off ball shooter in a limited bench role. It's not exactly the same as what the Bulls did in game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals with Scottie Pippen (7 FGA in only 26 minutes when he was playing over 40MPG up until then), but it's a similar type of idea. Your opponent doesn't know what kind of shape the player is in so he can still be used as a decoy to pull defensive attention away from other players.

Barcs wrote:

Pickled Prunes wrote:

Barcs wrote:Ouch! That's an abnormally long time for an Achilles.

Not really. If he came back in the expected 12 months it would mean that IND somehow made the Finals without him.

So I guess he's just assuming he's not playing the whole year and using those 3 months as the time until training camp. That makes more sense, because there have been players who come back from that injury in 4-5 months (IE Cam Akers). Basketball might be a little harder to rehab an Achilles than football, though, not sure.

It depends on the specific injury, but the playoffs start in under 10 months. The timing of the injury made coming back this season impractical. The same is true for Tatum. They are saying that the earliest Kyrie could return is January and he was injured March 3rd... that's 10 months.