INDIANAPOLIS – Kevin Pritchard vividly remembers his conversation with Tyrese Haliburton before Game 7 of the NBA Finals. The Indiana Pacers' 25-year-old two-time All-NBA point guard was about to play for an NBA title for the first time while nursing a strained right calf, but his confidence was such that it put the Pacers' 57-year-old president of basketball operations more at ease.

"I went up to him and said, 'How are you feeling?'" Pritchard said of Haliburton. "He said, 'I feel great.' And I kinda walked off and he goes, 'Are you nervous?' I said, 'I'm a little...' — I didn't want to say, 'Yeah, I'm freaking really nervous.' He looked me dead in the eye and he goes, 'Don't worry, we got this.'"

And for seven minutes, it did seem like the Pacers, and Haliburton in particular, had it. Haliburton drilled three 3-pointers in the game's first five minutes to give the Pacers a 14-10 lead.

But less than two minutes after his last 3-pointer, Haliburton was lying prostrate on the floor, slapping and then punching the hardwood in anguish. He seemed to know then what was confirmed the next day — that he'd torn his Achilles tendon, not only ending his Game 7 in the first quarter but potentially altering the next year of his life and the trajectory of the Pacers as a franchise. The Pacers somehow fought their way to a 48-47 halftime lead with the face of their franchise missing but ended up losing 103-91 to the Thunder. They were as close as they had ever been to an NBA title but fell just short.

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA - JUNE 22: Tyrese Haliburton #0 of the Indiana Pacers warms up before playing the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game Seven of the 2025 NBA Finals at Paycom Center on June 22, 2025 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)

"In my mind, no one can tell me that we weren't going to win a championship if Ty stays healthy," Pritchard said. "You know, that's biased. I understand that. That's very biased. But I really believe. He had that eye of the tiger, man."

Of course, the Pacers will never know and they'll never know what he could have done in the 2025-26 season if he'd stayed healthy either. Pritchard said Monday that no matter what happens — no matter how well Haliburton's rehab goes or how well the Pacers' season goes — he will not play in 2025-26. Recovery from an Achilles tendon tear is slated to take at least 8-10 months but it takes longer for top-level athletes to return to playing condition, and Pritchard said the Pacers would not try to cheat that process.

"He will not play next year, though," Pritchard said. "We would not jeopardize that now. Don't get any hopes up that he will play."

Pritchard looks back at the collective decision made to allow Haliburton to play after he strained his calf with some level of regret. Haliburton suffered the injury in the first half of the Pacers' loss to the Thunder in Game 5. He played through the injury and ended up with four points on 0-of-6 shooting in the game, but registered six assists and seven rebounds. After extensive discussions with doctors, Haliburton decided he wanted to try to play through the injury, and the Pacers elected not to stop him. Haliburton posted 14 points and five assists in a blowout win in Game 6 that allowed him to sit out the entire fourth quarter and forced a Game 7. So after that performance, the Pacers didn't feel like they could step in and stop him from playing in the final game with a championship on the line.

"We probably had 20 hours of calls and discussions," Pritchard said. "We went to the guy that's the best in the business, (Dr. Martin) O'Malley and he said it's a low probability (of an Achilles tendon tear.) I was in this unbelievable stressful balance of, how do you tell a kid he can't play in Game 7 after he played in Game 6 and didn't have it? That was the real kind of turning point because he played with it and we felt we were a little bit out of the woods, and we weren't, obviously."

Haliburton said on social media after his surgery in New York with O'Malley the day after the injury that despite the Achilles tear, he had no regrets about deciding to play because he would have rather suffered the injury than have to live with not knowing what would've happened in Game 7 if he would have tried to play. Pritchard views it a little differently.

"He's told me many times — and this just shows you what kind of kid he is — 'I would do it over and over,'" Pritchard said. "If you're asking me, would I have him do it over and over? I would not. I would not. If I knew that he was going to get hurt, I would sacrifice that game because I care for the kid so much and want him to have an incredible career."

Pritchard believes the injury requires the Pacers to ask themselves some difficult questions because it was the third Achilles tendon tear the Pacers suffered in the 2024-25 season. In the season's first 10 days, centers James Wiseman and Isaiah Jackson each tore an Achilles tendon and had to miss the rest of the season forcing them to spend all season scrambling at that position.

"We're doing a deep dive internally to figure out, are we doing everything we can on preventions?" Pritchard said. "What we know right now is it's been three freak accidents, but I think it behooves us to take a hard look internally on what we can do."

Pritchard said he thinks it could be a product of more on-court action putting stress in players' legs. The Pacers in particular put an emphasis on movement on both ends of the floor and trying to wear opponents out and while that has created an edge for them, it's demanding on the body.

"It's also a product of, there's more cutting and more moving and more hard cuts than there's ever been before," Pritchard said. "... It used to be the league was high pick-and-roll, put two guys in the corner and you can stand around. But this activity — which is what we love. To me, when you're playing our flow game and the ball is moving and we move it eight to 10 times to get an open shot, it takes a lot of energy to do that. But to me, it's poetry in motion. I love watching it and I don't think anybody did it like we did it last year and the last couple of years."

Haliburton, who has conducted that poetry in motion the past three seasons, won't be doing it this year and Pritchard knows that will be an adjustment because Haliburton is a true basketball obsessive. While he's rehabbing, Pritchard still intends to put Haliburton's mind to work. The two-time All-Star has had a voice in the Pacers' personnel decisions since 2023 and he'll have more time to talk with Pritchard directly.

"He's going to have time to fill," Pritchard said. "I've joked with him, he's just going to have to be my general manager the next couple of years."

The Pacers will have to find a way to survive without him. They could make a backcourt addition for depth, but it seems unlikely they'll try to take any kind of big swing. They'll most likely be moving Andrew Nembhard to point guard for the year as that is his most natural position and he's started the past two seasons whenever Haliburton has been out. They'll most likely move Bennedict Mathurin from the bench to the starting lineup and have T.J. McConnell available as a backup point guard.

"You don't replace Ty," Pritchard said. "And if you do, it's in a collective. But you have to remember, you have a bunch of guys who are experienced. They've been in some of the biggest toughest games. ... I'm hopeful that people write us off. Let's put it that way."

And he imagines Haliburton will feel written off by the time he returns in 2026-27, which will make him even more dangerous.

"I think that he plays best when he's really hungry," Pritchard said. "I'm guessing next year he's going to be chomping at the bit to prove to everybody that he's back. We're just going to have to take it slow and make sure he's back to 100%. I expect great things."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: He thought Pacers were winning the NBA title. Now, he faces a year without his star: 'I'm hopeful that people write us off'

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