The Indiana Pacers won’t be rushing guard Tyrese Haliburton back to the court next season as he recovers from a torn right Achilles tendon.
Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said Monday in a news conference that he has no doubt Haliburton “will be back better than ever.”
“He will not play next year, though,” Pritchard added. “We would not jeopardize that now. Don’t get any hopes up that he will play.”
Haliburton suffered his Achilles injury early in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. He had surgery June 23 at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, the Pacers announced.
It was a historic postseason for Haliburton, who turned in an array of buzzer-beating winners, incredible plays and some unprecedented stat lines. The Oklahoma City Thunder were crowned champions after beating the Pacers, 103-91.
Haliburton recently wrote on social media: “And honestly, right now, torn Achilles and all, I don’t regret it. I’d do it again, and again after that, to fight for this city and my brothers. For the chance to do something special.”
Pritchard told reporters Monday that Haliburton’s mentality “just shows you what kind of kid he is.”
“If you’re asking me, would I have him do it over and over? I would not,” Pritchard said. “If I knew that he was going to get hurt, I would sacrifice that game because I care for the kid so much and want him to have an incredible career.”
Pritchard also told reporters it was a surprise to lose Myles Turner in free agency to Milwaukee. Turner agreed to a four-year deal to join the Bucks, who waived All-Star Damian Lillard to make the acquisition happen.
Turner spent his first 10 seasons with the Pacers.
“I know this, that Herb Simon and Steven Rales and the Simon family were fully prepared to go deep into the tax to keep him,” Pritchard said. “We really wanted to do that, and we were negotiating in good faith, but what happens in this league is sometimes you’re negotiating. But because a guy is unrestricted, he has the right to say, ‘That’s the offer I want. I’m going to take it and that’s best for my family.’
“Again, we were in good-faith negotiations. It was a little surprising how Milwaukee created that. We always say in our conference room, there [are] cap teams that have cap space, and there [are] shadow teams that have cap space. … It becomes very challenging by buying out or making trades and hat tip to Milwaukee to do that.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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