Tyrese Haliburton pulls an unusual move amid Pacers-Thunder rematch

Tyrese Haliburton is apparently not quite ready to return to the site of his devastating injury.

The Indiana Pacers faced off against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. The game marked a rematch between the two sides who met in the 2025 NBA Finals (with the Thunder ultimately prevailing in seven games).

Haliburton, who is out for the season with an Achilles tear suffered in Game 7 of that Finals series, has been with his team in street clothes on the bench for every single game thus far. However, Haliburton notably decided not to accompany the Pacers for Friday’s trip to OKC. Indiana writer Scott Agness noted that it was Haliburton’s very first absence of the season.

That is completely understandable for the two-time All-Star Haliburton. His Achilles tear (which you can see the video of here) only occurred seven months ago. On top of that, the injury cost Haliburton and the Pacers perhaps the best chance that they will ever get to win an NBA title (not to mention costing Haliburton all of this season as well).

Fortunately for Haliburton though, the Pacers managed to defeat the Thunder on Friday in perhaps the biggest upset of the year. Entering play Friday at an NBA-worst 10-35, Indiana was somehow able to beat the NBA-best Thunder (who came in at 37-8) by a final score of 117-114.

Haliburton won’t play at all again until the start of next season in Oct. 2026. But after not attending Friday’s NBA Finals rematch against OKC, Haliburton will likely be back on the Pacers’ bench for their next game (where he has already produced some fantastic troll moments this year).