Tyrese Haliburton Wows Coach Rick Carleslie With Surprise Dunk as Pacers Star Mirrors Jayson Tatum's Achilles Rehab Flex

Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton will miss the entire 2025-26 NBA season as he recovers from a torn Achilles tendon. 17 weeks after suffering the devastating injury in Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the OKC Thunder, Haliburton has shown significant progress.

On Friday, he posted a video of himself being able to dunk off two feet. It wasn't the most powerful dunk from Haliburton, but it showed the progress of his work. It also left Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle astonished by what he saw.

Haliburton's dunk was similar to what Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum posted early this month. Just like the Pacers guard, Tatum suffered a torn Achilles tendon during the playoffs. His injury occurred during the second round of the postseason, in Game 4 against the New York Knicks.

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Since then, the Celtics star has posted his progress on social media. He also hinted at the possibility of playing late in the regular season.

Haliburton and Tatum are just two of the three stars who suffered a season-ending Achilles injury during the playoffs. The first player who experienced the setback was All-Star guard Damian Lillard in the first round against the Pacers.

Similar to Haliburton and Tatum, Lillard suffered a torn Achilles tendon as a result of a non-contact injury. After suffering the injury, the star guard was released by the Milwaukee Bucks, leading to his return to the Portland Trail Blazers.

There's a lot to love about the progress that Tyrese Haliburton showed. Although he won't suit up this season, there's a chance that he could return to the court and be his old self.

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Tyrese Haliburton has reportedly "leaned on" Jayson Tatum amid the injury recovery

There are several professional parallels between Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum. They were colleagues on Team USA at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and are both the best players on their respective teams. Both stars struggled to crack the rotation during that run but still earned a gold medal.

Now, they also suffered the same injury in the same playoff run. This has helped them grow closer together, as Haliburton revealed that he's leaned on the Celtics star a lot since getting injured.

“Me and Jayson talk pretty often. Probably once a week, once every couple of weeks,” Haliburton said in an interview (4:40). “He was a great person for me to talk to, kind of lean on.” “He’s like six weeks ahead of me. Everything that he’s doing and has been doing, I have to look forward to.”

Tyrese Haliburton also revealed that Tatum has been reaching out to Lillard, who was the first to suffer the unfortunate injury. The three stars have helped each other out on their road to recovery.

Edited by Reign Amurao