Pacers' future clouded by Haliburton's injury

INDIANAPOLIS — Tyrese Haliburton took the Indiana Pacers to heights few thought possible after they started this season with a 10-15 record.His historic postseason run included a litany of incredible plays, buzzer-beating winners and occasionally unprecedented stat lines, and it helped propel the Pacers to their second NBA Finals appearance and within one victory of the franchise's first championship.Now, after suffering an apparent Achilles tendon injury in Sunday's Game 7 loss, the logical question is whether the Pacers can contend for a title next season — if their top playmaker misses the entire season with the injury. Even so, coach Rick Carlisle believes it's only the start for Haliburton & Co."He will be back," Carlisle said following the 103-91 loss at Oklahoma City. "I don't have any medical information about what's what, what may or may not have happened. But he'll be back in time, and I believe he'll make a full recovery."A healthy Haliburton certainly makes the Pacers a stronger team. They likely wouldn't have made it this far without him helping to orchestrate three incredible rallies from seven points down in the final 50 seconds of regulation in three weeks.But after scoring nine points, all on 3-pointers, in the first seven minutes of the biggest game in franchise history, Haliburton's crash to the floor and sudden departure created a double whammy for Indiana.Not only did they lose their leader, but Indiana also fell short in its title chase. Again."We just kept battling because we wanted to make Indiana proud, make our fans proud," three-time All-Star Pascal Siakam said. "We tried our best, but we've got to be strong. It's hard to look forward into the future after you lose like this."But everyone else is, and the questions about Haliburton's playing status could make this offseason murkier than expected for Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard.There are silver linings, though.At age 25, Haliburton is young enough to return to his pre-injury form and today's medical advances could help shorten the expected timetable of about 12 months.Many players, including some much older than Haliburton, have shown it is possible to make a full comeback, and Siakam has no doubt Haliburton will join the club."I know there's more coming, it's just a tough a situation," Siakam said. "I think back a couple of years and basketball was just not fun, you know, and I got traded here and these guys, they just gave me a boost and playing with these guys is so incredible. I found joy with so much swagger and happiness."That's unlikely to change regardless of Haliburton's health because his effusive, contagious personality even in the face of adversity will continue to be a key feature for Indiana. Players such as Siakam won't allow that to change.But Indiana also will begin next season with a strong supporting cast intact and room to grow defensively.Indiana's deep rotation routinely wore down playoff opponents with its racer-like tempo, a model it could replicate again next season as it has done each of the previous two even when Haliburton didn't play.Nine of Indiana's top 10 players are under contract for 2025-26, with starting center Myles Turner the lone exception. Indiana's longest-tenured player has a cap hold estimated at slightly less than $30 million, meaning if he re-signs for something close, Indiana would be barely moving into the first apron and could stay out of that spending threshold with another move.The Pacers also have strong guard play from Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell, who can run the show, as well as emerging defender Ben Sheppard.Aaron Nesmith and Bennedict Mathurin also demonstrated their scoring prowess in the postseason. Both also showed they can defend guards and forwards, giving Indiana perhaps the toughness and flexibility to overcome a Haliburton absence.And Haliburton's absence could create more minutes for young players such as Mathurin, Sheppard and forward Jarace Walker, a lottery pick in 2023.For now, though, it remains hard to fathom — chasing a title with Haliburton possibly out for most, if not all, of next season."A lot of us were hurting from the loss and he was up there consoling us. That's who Tyrese Haliburton is," McConnell said. "He's just the greatest."