Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton missed this NBA season after tearing his Achilles during last year\u2019s NBA Finals, and he\u2019s recently dealt with face shingles on top of his Achilles recovery. It\u2019s been an unfortunate year for Haliburton, to say the least.<\/p>\n
Haliburton spoke to media on Monday to provide updates on his shingles, eight weeks into the virus. Shingles is a rash caused by the same virus as chickenpox, with Haliburton\u2019s rash appearing on his face. The rash has since disappeared, but the itching and swelling of his eyes and face hasn\u2019t gone away. He lost part of his eyebrow because of shingles. At one point, Haliburton shared that his eye was essentially closed shut because of how swollen it got.<\/p>\n
He showed up to his media availability wearing glasses, which he says he now wears in order to halt him from itching his face. Haliburton detailed what the experience of having face shingles has been like for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have good days and bad days, but for the most part, it\u2019s bad days. It hasn\u2019t been any fun. I\u2019m still obviously dealing with it,\u201d Haliburton said, via The Athletic\u2019s James Boyd. \u201cI\u2019ve been taking unbelievable amounts of medication to try to get rid of it. It hasn\u2019t worked. It\u2019s obviously caused me to gain weight and look a little bigger. That\u2019s been a topic of conversation through social media and stuff. It\u2019s not been fun and hopefully it goes away here pretty soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
#Pacers<\/a> star Tyrese Haliburton \u201clost part my eyebrow\u201d due to face shingles:<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been taking unbelievable amounts of medication to try to get rid of it. It hasn\u2019t worked. It\u2019s obviously caused me to gain weight \u2026 That\u2019s been a topic of conversation through social media \u2026\u201d pic.twitter.com\/nRSpgnzjm6<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) April 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n One unfortunate series of events for Haliburton is the weight gain he\u2019s accumlated from his Achilles rehab and now shingles. Back in January, the Indiana star detailed to LeBron James on his podcast Mind the Game <\/a>that he was bulking up from lifting during his recovery. Haliburton said it was the biggest he\u2019d ever been because of the muscle gain. The problem is that he gained this muscle weight before getting shingles, and now his medication has a weight gain side effect, leading him to gain even more.<\/p>\n Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday, Haliburton shared the rude new nickname he\u2019s gotten online because of his weight gain.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the new side effects of the meds is that I\u2019m always hungry and weight gain,\u201d Haliburton said. \u201c… They\u2019re killing me on social media. I see I\u2019m being called Tyrese \u2018Haliburger.\u2019 That\u2019s been the new one.\u201d<\/p>\n People gotta chill on Hali \ud83d\ude2d<\/p>\n (via @PatMcAfeeShow<\/a>) pic.twitter.com\/wlRZF2kWHw<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Overtime (@overtime) April 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n After reaching the finals last season, the Pacers missed out on the postseason after finishing 19\u201363 this season<\/a>. Haliburton watched his team struggle from the sidelines as he continued to recover from his injury suffered in Game 7 of the Finals last June.<\/p>\n Haliburton\u2019s recovery has been on track throughout the past 10 or so months, so he\u2019ll be set to return to the court for the 2026\u201327 season. Hopefully his face shingles will better soon and he can start preparing this offseason to get back on the court in full health.<\/p>\n More NBA from Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n Listen to SI\u2019s NBA podcast,\u00a0Open Floor, below or on\u00a0Apple<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Spotify<\/a>. Watch the show on\u00a0SI\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n