The Indiana Pacers RG3’d Tyrese Haliburton

In contrast, this past summer, my daughter Imani Thomas class of 2026 was faced with a very difficult decision to play through an injury at Nationals and risk further more severe injury.    Here’s the story:     Imani had played through shin splints for the entire travel season with her team Maryland Juniors. These shin splints actually developed during her junior year high school season with Bishop McNamara, but she is a soldier and she pushed through like all athletes do.    However, toward the end of her travel season, the shin splints continued to get worse. She did constant treatment and even started over compensating to protect her shin splints until one practice she could barely move. The assistant coach (Coach Ashley Williams) came up to me and said,  “Imani is a beast, and she is not going to stop playing no matter what I tell her. But you need to get this checked out because it’s visibly getting worse”    So me and my wife Nichole took her to get X Rays and a MRI and it was discovered that her shin splints had turned into a stress fracture.    She was devastated. Nationals were coming up and like any athlete she contemplated just sucking it up and playing through the pain.    The doctor was honest with us. He explained to us that if Imani was playing soccer, he would definitely not clear her to play because the likelihood of her getting kicked in her stress fracture was relatively high. If she played football or rugby or any contact sport, he would also not clear her. But she plays volleyball, and the likelihood of her getting kicked in her stress fracture was very low.        However, if she landed wrong, the impact could be just as severe as if she got kicked. Then he asked how her mechanics were and I told him that she had been over compensating for quite some time. She’s been pushing through and getting a lot of treatment but she has been in pain for a long time. And the doctor said honestly, it’s a decision you have to make for her. She is going to want to risk it all and play. That’s how athletes are.    So we talked to Imani, explained the risks, and together we came to the decision that it would be best to sit out.    And it was a very difficult process for her as it would be for any athlete but long term over short term was what was important.    Now, back to Tyrese Haliburton.   NBA fans across the world witnessed what would have been a story of triumph. One for the archives of NBA history. The storyline would’ve been.... Facing elimination in the NBA playoffs in a pivotal Game 7, Tyrese Haliburton battles through injury with superhuman perseverance and in heroic fashion to save the Pacers and propel them into victory solidifying this as one of the greatest finals performances in the history of the NBA. They probably would’ve had a picture of Haliburton with a Superman emblem on his chest and a cape under his Warriors uniform. Would’ve had his dad holding the same Pacers towel he waved in front of Giannis next to his son with the trophy. Would’ve been a sportswriters dream as so many angles could’ve been covered and explored.

People love stories of heroics. Isiah Thomas hobbling around on one foot in game 6 of the 1988 NBA Finals against the Lakers and scoring 25 points in the 3rd quarter. Or Willis Reed walking out of the tunnel for the New York Knicks on his bum ankle in Game 7 of the 1970 Finals. Everything was set up for Haliburton to be added to that list.

High school, college and professional coaches across the country were just salivating to be able to use this as an example to their players to enforce the philosophy that “pain is weakness leaving your body”. They would’ve used Haliburton as an example to young athletes that the game (not your health) is what matters most. And a real “team player” would sacrifice a “little discomfort” for their team.

I have seen this all before. During my tenure with the Washington Wizards, I witnessed team trainer Eric Waters misdiagnose player after player because what was best for the Wizards organization was for that player to play.

I saw Richard Hamilton go off on the entire training staff after he learned that he had been playing through a torn groin, only disclosed to him after the team was out of playoff contention. He had been complaining about his groin for weeks and the trainers were giving him treatment two and three times a day all the while knowing his groin was torn, but they wanted to push for the playoffs so they didn’t tell him. 

I saw them tell Jarvis Hayes that he simply had a case of “tendinitis” in his knee and had him playing through the pain. Turned out he had a broken knee cap and ruined his entire career. 

I saw them tell Kwame Brown that he was just experiencing a “little discomfort” in his leg and that he needed to play through the pain to show everyone that he was worthy of being the number 1 pick. Turned out later, he actually had a torn hamstring. 

I saw Eric Waters tell Deshawn Stevenson there was nothing seriously wrong with his back and had him getting ice and stem and playing through the pain. After the season, upon further review by an outside doctor it was discovered that he actually had an Inflamed L5 Nerve that was stuck underneath a disc that required not one but two back surgeries to repair. 

My point in saying all of this is not to simply blast Eric Waters, I am showing that this happens all the time in professional sports. With team doctors and trainers, there is a conflict of interest and the sworn medical oath becomes blurred and effects their diagnoses. They are hired by the teams and are in essence employees of the organization not employees of the players. So they don’t have the players best interest in mind, typically, they only have the organization’s.

The Indiana Pacers medical staff basically RG3’d Haliburton. They “Any Given Sunday’d” him. They Eric Waters’d him.

He shouldn’t have been playing period.

The risks outweighed the rewards. Even from a team standpoint. This is your franchise player. This is a player who has the capability of single handedly turning an entire NBA championship finals series around. This is a player that you should’ve done everything in your power to convey to him how important he is long term for them and how much they value his health and are looking out for his best interest etc etc. However, what they showed was the exact opposite. 

It doesn’t matter if Haliburton insisted on playing in Game 7, just like it didn’t matter if Imani insisted on playing in Nationals. Sometimes, when it comes to their health, athletes need people to make the decision for them. That’s our job as parents and we did that. That was also the job of the Pacers medical team, and they did not have the medical integrity to do that. 

Imani had her boot off now and is starting rehab and will be back full strength in a few weeks. Haliburton’s calf strain turned into a ruptured Achilles and he will have to sit out the entire 2025/2026 season. 

In explaining the difference in how me and my wife Nichole handled her injury vs how the Pacers medical staff handled his, I started singing, “They Not Like Us” A Dad joke that fell flat with Imani but I don’t care it was a good joke. 

But in all seriousness, I hope all young players see this and learn that no matter what the circumstances or how big the game is, your health always comes first, and you ALWAYS get a 2nd opinion from your own doctors that have nothing to do with the organization like Kawhi Leonard did in San Antonio his last season there. 

Let me refresh everyone’s memory.

Everyone with a microphone dogged Kawhi that season. Skip Bayless was still going on his hateful rants and baseless criticisms of Kawhi even after the Raptors beat the 76ers in the playoffs.

Skip Bayless tweeted out

“Well, I guess it worked for No. 2 to quit on the Spurs last season complaining of what Spurs doctors decided was no more than a thigh bruise. He wound up in the East, playing against a hobbled, sick Embiid and an overrated Giannis. "Crime" pays.”

Kawhi delt with Coach Popovich taking shots at him, his teammates taking shots at him, the team questioning his injury because their “team doctors” said he was fine. But he got a 2nd opinion and was told otherwise and did what was in his best interest. Danny Green was reportedly playing through a torn groin after being misdiagnosed by the same team doctors that misdiagnosed Kawhi.

And the Spurs are one of the most respected organizations in the NBA with one of the most respected coaches in the NBA. But, the bottom line is, any organization will throw you out there in a heartbeat injured if they feel it is best for the organization. They will publicly criticize you if you don’t play and if you play and re-injure yourself worst or just don’t play up to their expectations (as if they don’t know your playing injured) they will get rid of you in a New York minute just like The Washington Commanders did RG3 and just like the Washington Wizards did with Jarvis Hayes.

I remember watching Grant Hill. He was about to literally take over the league.

People were calling him out for not playing hurt. Said he was soft, overrated etc etc just like they were saying about Haliburton before he shut them all up this playoff series.

The Orlando medical staff derailed Grant’s entire career. 

Another example is the young Isiah Thomas. He shouldn’t have been playing in Boston in the playoffs but he played, ended up hurting himself more, ended up needing surgery, cost himself 100 million dollars came back and played after losing his sister and they traded him that summer because they knew about his injury and knew that he needed surgery.

Kyrie Irving goes and gets a 2nd opinion and they say you need surgery, the Celtics doctors didn’t tell him he needed surgery, so he had his surgery and came back the next year strong. There is a reoccurring theme here.

I immediately called my son Malcolm who is working hard at The University Of Dayton right now as I write this article I hope he learned the lesson in what just happened to Haliburton. Told my daughter Baby Sierra and Imani the entire way to school yesterday, like literally the whole entire way I was going on an endless rant.

Told them stories of Eric Waters and Ernie Grunfeld trying to get me to take a cortisone shot in my pubic bone and go out an play when I was suffering an abdominal strain that kept me sidelined for an extended period of time. But also how the 2nd opinion I received from my doctor was that if I did that, I would almost certainly hurt myself worse because the Cortisone show wouldn’t exceed the healing process, it was just make it so I didn't feel the pain. 

But just think of it logically, your body sends pain signals to you when something is hurting to let you know to stop doing that. If you block that signal, you won’t feel the warning you’re supposed to feel. Made perfect sense to me so I told them no. And sure they tried to put pressure on me and have a beat writer pressure me through the power of the pin in a few articles (no I didn’t have any actual proof of this but the timing and coincidence was way too convenient so I’ll say “allegedly” had a beat writer pressure me through the media). But the end result was me standing firm and telling them no, I can’t go.

However, the onus shouldn’t be placed on the athlete’s shoulders. Of course athletes are going to want to play but it shouldn’t be up to them. A solution to this league wide issue was suggested to me by a lawyer by the name of Marlon Amprey. He explained that the Players Association should assemble a group of outside doctors/specialists (or specific doctors/specialists the player suggests) that have no connection to the team whatsoever.

That will provide 2nd & 3rd opinions and give players detailed reports on their health and risk of injury. All doctors’ reports given by teams that drastically differ should go under review and there should be repercussions for team doctors and trainers who medically clear players who shouldn’t be medically cleared to play.