{"id":706247,"date":"2026-04-09T01:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T01:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/706247\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T01:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T01:12:22","slug":"tyrese-haliburton-plays-5-on-5-for-first-time-since-game-7-of-nba-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/706247\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyrese Haliburton plays 5-on-5 for first time since Game 7 of NBA Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tyrese<\/p>\n

Tyrese Haliburton has missed the entire season as he recovers from his ruptured Achilles. China Wong \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

April 8, 2026 8:57 pm EDT<\/p>\n

Tyrese Haliburton\u2019s rehab from a ruptured Achilles has reached a new milestone.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday evening, the two-time All-Star announced on X<\/a> that he played 5-on-5 basketball for the first time since suffering his injury in Game 7 of last year\u2019s NBA Finals. The injury has kept him out of the entire 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n

Throughout his recovery, Haliburton has filled his time with non-basketball hobbies like working on his sneaker line with Puma, livestreaming with his brother and learning to DJ. Haliburton has also been a mainstay at Pacers games, encouraging his teammates from the bench.<\/p>\n

In late February, coach Rick Carlisle told reporters Haliburton was diagnosed with shingles and would be away from the team for a few weeks. He returned to the bench on March 25.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s announcement not only marks major progress toward Haliburton\u2019s return but also represents a light at the end of a forgettable season\u2019s tunnel.<\/p>\n

During Haliburton\u2019s absence, the Pacers lost a franchise-record 16 straight games, a streak that lasted from the All-Star break in mid-February to March 25, when they finally won their 16th win of the season, a 128-126 sigh of relief over the Orlando Magic.<\/p>\n

Overall, the Pacers (18-61) are poised for their lowest win percentage ever (.228) and have sorely missed their two-time All-NBA selection. Indiana is 27th in offensive efficiency this season after finishing ninth in that category in 2024-25. The Pacers\u2019 36 double-digit losses this season are more than the previous two seasons combined (33), a span that saw them tie for the NBA\u2019s eighth-best record.<\/p>\n

As this season nears its end, the Pacers are hoping to find luck in the NBA\u2019s draft lottery. If their first-round pick falls in the top four, or No. 10 or lower, they\u2019ll keep it. If it falls between Nos. 5-9, it will go to the LA Clippers as part of the February trade that sent Bennedict Mathurin to LA for Ivica Zubac.<\/p>\n

But regardless of other faces that might come and go through Indiana, knowing that Haliburton is making progress in his recovery is a positive sign for Pacers fans to latch onto.<\/p>\n

\"Connections:\"Connections:<\/p>\n

Apr 9, 2026<\/p>\n

Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n

Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n

Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n

Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tyrese Haliburton has missed the entire season as he recovers from his ruptured Achilles. China Wong \/ Getty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":706248,"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-706247","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\/116372095526891427","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706247","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=706247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}