Haliburton blames recent spike in Achilles tears on 'bad luck'
Tyrese Haliburton doubts that there's a single, identifiable cause for the NBA's recent string of torn Achilles tendons, including his own, which will sideline the Indiana Pacers star for the 2025-26 season.
"Everybody thinks we play too many games, play too many minutes - all those things could be true, but I don't think that that is what is causing these injuries," he said Tuesday on "The Pat McAfee Show. "Last season, if I'm not mistaken, I don't think there was a single Achilles tear. And it was the same amount of minutes, same amount of games, right? Guys didn't suddenly get larger in the course of a year.
"So I don't think that anybody has necessarily the answer. I think injuries are just bad luck sometimes and that's just what happened, but I think that's just what happens in sports sometimes. I think there's no way to really control it."
Haliburton was one of three NBA stars to tear his Achilles this past postseason alone. Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard (now back with the Portland Trail Blazers) tore his in the first round against the Pacers before Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum suffered the same injury in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks.
Haliburton's tear occurred minutes into Game 7 of the Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder after the Pacers guard appeared to have shaken off a calf issue that had bothered him since Game 2. Following his surgery in late June, the 25-year-old said he had no regrets about playing in the all-or-nothing contest despite the pre-existing calf issue.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver revealed at the draft that the league had already partnered with experts to study the recent spike in Achilles tears before Haliburton's injury. Another four tears Achilles tears happened during the regular season. Fellow Indiana players James Wiseman and Isaiah Jackson suffered two of them; Wiseman's occurred after playing just four-and-a-half minutes in the Pacers' season opener.
Like Haliburton, Silver pushed back on the length of the season as a factor, pointing instead to the extent to which young players push their bodies year-round.