Joel Embiid Says He 'Shed a Tear' After Watching Tyrese Haliburton's Achilles Injury

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid was distraught after watching Indiana Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton suffer a torn Achilles in Game 7 of last season's NBA Finals, recalling his emotions in an exclusive interview with ESPN's Dotun Akintoye.

"Unbelievable," he said of the injury. "I kind of shed a tear."

Embiid ended up turning off the game after the injury, which occurred in the first quarter of the Pacers' eventual 103-91 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

As told by Akintoye, Embiid and Haliburton are friends, with the Sixers center encouraging the latter via text as the Pacers' run to being one win away from an NBA championship continued.

Embiid is currently rehabbing his left knee, which was the primary reason he missed 63 games last year. He had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee last April, and there is no timeline for his return right now, per the big man's comments to Akintoye.

"Hopefully, sooner rather than later," Embiid said.

Given his rehab journey and the obvious disappointment of being unable to play, it's understandable that Embiid "wanted nothing to do with the playoffs," especially with the 24-58 Sixers finishing well out of the playoff picture.

Haliburton got Embiid to tune back in, though.

"He kind of got to me, he kept trying to convince me to watch," Embiid told Akintoye.

Haliburton and the Pacers enjoyed an unbelievable run, with the Indiana star hitting mind-blowing clutch buckets to keep his team's postseason rolling to the NBA Finals. He helped set up Game 7 with OKC and got off to a great start with nine quick points.

Unfortunately, Haliburton suffered a non-contact Achilles injury and will now miss the entire 2025-26 season.