{"id":669328,"date":"2026-03-20T19:46:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/669328\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T19:46:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:46:01","slug":"tyrese-haliburton-at-really-good-spot-in-his-achilles-injury-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/669328\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyrese Haliburton at \u2018Really Good Spot\u2019 in His Achilles Injury Recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you are recovering from an Achilles injury you find yourself with a lot of free time, which is why Tyrese Haliburton was eager to fill out an NCAA tournament<\/a> bracket for Reese\u2019s for its \u201cEverything Happens for a Reese\u2019s\u201d March Madness Summit this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably haven\u2019t won [an NCAA tournament pool] in a long time, probably since middle school,\u201d says Haliburton \u201cWhich is crazy because you would think the more basketball experience I have, the better I would do at one of these. But I\u2019m feeling very confident. Every year I say this, but I\u2019m feeling very confident in my bracket. Ever since I got out of college, if Iowa State\u2019s in the tournament, I\u2019m picking Iowa State. So usually that\u2019s kind of been far-fetched, but this is the year that it feels the most realistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

In between tournament games, Haliburton sat down with Sports Illustrated for a wide-ranging interview on the state of his rehab, what he felt watching Jayson Tatum return from a similar injury, if he is watching the college game a little differently this year and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Interview has been lightly edited for clarity.)<\/p>\n

SI: All right, I don\u2019t want to bring up bad memories. But you had one trip to the NCAA tournament, in 2019. You lost in the first round. You have accomplished a lot since then. All-Star, Olympic gold medal, took a team to the Finals. But does that loss still linger?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tyrese Haliburton: For sure. I lost to Ohio State. And it stings because we were, I think going into that tournament, I think we were supposed to be a six-seed. We ended up winning the Big 12 tournament, and so we thought, O.K., if we\u2019re supposed to be a six-seed going into the tournament and then we beat Kansas, Kansas State and Baylor, we probably get bumped up to a five, right? We still were a six, and then we lost. And it still stinks to this day because I\u2019m 100% of the belief that if we win that game, we go on and at least make the Elite Eight. So it stings. It hurts every time.<\/p>\n

SI: Do you watch college basketball a little differently this year? Your team is in a position to get one of the top picks in the draft. Are you looking at some of these guys as future teammates?<\/p>\n

TH: That\u2019s probably fair to say. I just have so much more time on my hands obviously with not playing and Iowa State doing really well calls for me to watch a lot more. But it helps that a few of these top recruits are in the Big 12 as well, so of course I\u2019m following them. But yeah, of course I\u2019m watching everything.<\/p>\n

SI: So if Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard asks who you like \u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

TH: I can\u2019t give you all that sauce right now, but I think that our front office does a great job. I\u2019m very curious to hear their input on a lot of these guys. Obviously, I have my own ideas as well, but yeah, I can\u2019t give you all the sauce. But first, we got to hope the ping-pong balls bounce our way in that time to get the pick. But whatever that is, if it happens, I\u2019m looking forward to seeing what our front office decides. And if it doesn\u2019t, that\u2019s just how the cookie crumbles. And you\u2019re still excited for those young guys to get to the league and see what they can do.<\/p>\n

SI: You suffered your Achilles injury weeks after Jayson Tatum ruptured his. He returned this month. What were you thinking when you watched him play for the first time?\u00a0<\/p>\n

TH: I was so happy for him. I kind of had heard the news a little earlier that he was going to play, so I texted him right away. I was just so happy for him to see him back on the floor. I think what this has taught me is just not to take things for granted. And honestly, it\u2019s opened my eyes a little bit more to just other guys are going through the same thing and how can we come together as a community.<\/p>\n

And to see Jayson come back<\/a>, I was so happy for him. I don\u2019t really care about him making shots or missing shots. That\u2019s going to happen because he\u2019s Jayson Tatum. I\u2019m just happy to see him back on the floor, loving what he\u2019s doing. Again, I\u2019m looking forward to when that\u2019s me and I\u2019m in that position. But all these guys who are coming back to see him back, Dejounte [Murray] playing really well since he\u2019s come back, Dame [Lillard] won the [All-Star] Three-Point Contest. There\u2019s a lot of guys going through different things. Even Grant Williams coming back from his ACL tear earlier this year, I was happy for him. It\u2019s a lot of guys and I\u2019m just happy for everybody to get back on the floor, do what we love because you hate to see anybody go down with injuries. I\u2019m really happy for Jayson. Looking forward to following him as we get into the playoffs and how Boston\u2019s going to do.<\/p>\n

SI: Where are you in your recovery?<\/p>\n

TH: I\u2019m in a really good spot. I\u2019ve pretty much done everything at this point. I\u2019ve obviously been dealing with shingles over the last month, so that\u2019s been really tough. And that\u2019s something that I\u2019ve had to deal with and want to get through. And I\u2019m working on getting all the way through that and getting that out of my system. That\u2019s kind of hindered or stopped progress a little bit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But man, I feel really good. I\u2019m in a really good space. Obviously I\u2019m ruled out for the year, but I\u2019m still right on my timeline and doing everything at this point. So I\u2019m really looking forward to getting back and following the guys the rest of the year.<\/p>\n

SI: As far as your bracket goes, at what point are you going bust?<\/p>\n

TH: I mean, my bracket is definitely going to bust in the first round. I like to be bold with my decisions, man. I like to make choices that aren\u2019t necessarily the popular one. I got Hofstra beating Alabama. I think more people will probably pick that than you think. I never pick Wisconsin to get out of the first round, I\u2019ll tell you that right now. So High Point, I got them going to the second round<\/a>. I never pick Iowa to win. That\u2019s never going to happen. So I\u2019m picking Vanderbilt to win that game, even though that\u2019s not necessarily an upset, but that\u2019s part of my thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I got South Florida going to the Sweet 16. I like their story with their program and their coach. I have them going to the Sweet 16. I tend to lean towards the Big 12. So if it\u2019s in the air and the Big 12 is in that decision, I typically pick the Big 12. I got to worry about my Elite Eight, my Final Four, my champion staying all intact till the end. So that\u2019s what matters the most.<\/p>\n

More NBA From Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n

Listen to SI\u2019s NBA podcast, Open Floor, below or on Apple<\/a> and Spotify<\/a>. Watch the show on SI\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you are recovering from an Achilles injury you find yourself with a lot of free time, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3774],"tags":[7,113,126,3866,6,114],"class_list":{"0":"post-669328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indiana-pacers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-indiana","10":"tag-indiana-pacers","11":"tag-indianapacers","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-pacers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116263228879466372","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}