Tyrese Haliburton will be making his long-awaited return … to very little fanfare.
The Indiana Pacers star guard Haliburton appeared this week on the “Numbers on the Board” podcast. During the episode, Haliburton reacted to the news about the Pacers’ 2026-27 season opener.
With the NBA releasing its schedule earlier this week, Indiana was revealed to be opening up the season on the road against the New Orleans Pelicans on Oct. 21. The game is not set to be nationally televised either.
“Name any other person that you compare to my level of a basketball player, wherever you have me ranked,” said Haliburton, per The New York Post. “If they tore their Achilles and missed 16 months, do you think that the game would be on national television? Do you think that game would be at home, if not on national television? Do you think that game would be at New Orleans?
“When I saw the schedule, I was like, ‘Oh wow!’” Haliburton added. “Shoutout [Pelicans forward] Trey Murphy [III], love my boy, Trey. Love New Orleans. But I was shocked to see that.”
Indeed, Haliburton missed the entire 2025-26 NBA season after tearing his Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The 26-year-old Haliburton was the single biggest star of that year’s playoffs, leading Indiana from a No. 4 seed all the way to their first Finals berth since 2000 (with countless clutch postseason game-winners along the way).
Haliburton is also a two-time All-Star, a two-time All-NBA selection, and a former NBA assists leader, cementing himself as one of the league’s top talents at the guard position. But even after Haliburton had a very tough recovery from his Achilles rupture, the NBA will still not be rewarding him with even so much as the opportunity to make his official return in front of his home fans in Indiana.
