Brad Stevens Says Celtics Offered Pacers Assistance After Haliburton's Achilles Injury
The Boston Celtics offered any advice they could to the Indiana Pacers after the Eastern Conference champions watched star guard Tyrese Haliburton suffer a ruptured Achilles tendon.
President of basketball operations Brad Stevens told reporters Tuesday the Celtics, who watched Jayson Tatum suffer the same injury, were ready to relay their own experience with the situation:
Stevens was also Boston's coach when Gordon Hayward fractured his ankle on opening night in 2017-18. While that's a different injury, the recovery period was largely the same as with an Achilles tear.
The worst fears of fans were realized after Haliburton went down early in Indiana's Game 7 defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2025 NBA Finals.
The two-time All-Star was playing through a calf strain, though it's unclear whether that played any role in what transpired. Still, plenty of fans thought back to the 2019 Finals, when Kevin Durant's calf strain turned into a torn Achilles.
Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard confirmed Monday what everyone expected. Haliburton will miss the entirety of the 2025-26 season. He added that he would've traded the 6'5" guard missing Game 7 in return for having him healthy for opening night next year:
Indiana is facing an uncertain short-term future. Beyond losing Haliburton, it watched longtime center Myles Turner bolt for the Milwaukee Bucks in free agency.
Stevens might be able to give the Pacers some pointers for that, too, after the Celtics traded away guard Jrue Holiday and big man Kristaps Porziņģis.
