We’ve known since last offseason that Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton would miss most, if not all, of the 2026 season due to a lower leg injury suffered in the 2025 NBA playoffs. That much came true, but what no one saw coming is that Haliburton would also suffer another major health issue, and a pretty gnarly one at that: shingles.
Haliburton appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN on Monday to talk about what he’s been doing with his time and revealed that for the past few months, he’s been fighting off a particularly bad case of the virus, which attacked his face.
Haliburton said he had almost completely recovered from his ruptured Achilles tendon and was preparing to play five-on-five basketball as a step in his comeback before the disease struck. He described symptoms much like those in commercials encouraging adults who have had chickenpox to get vaccinated for shingles. A rash appeared on his face that quickly became painfully itchy. But it got even worse: the ailment lingered for about two months, during which the rash itched so badly that his eyes swelled shut from the irritation.
He also said medication to help him cope with the symptoms had caused weight gain. His advice for fans, again, was just like the commercials: if you’re over 50–the age recommended by doctors–get vaccinated against shingles.
Haliburton, though, is only 26, underscoring that people of any age can develop shingles, which is essentially a reactivation of the dormant varicella zoster virus, or chickenpox. Turns out, once you have chickenpox, it never actually goes away. Instead, it can lie dormant for decades, then reappear to wreak havoc as it did in Haliburton’s case.
Ouch.