UTAH JAZZ
Indiana Pacers · Injury Report
Four Games Into His Comeback, Tyrese Haliburton Is Hurt Again
Guest host Terrence "T-Dub" Wells sits in on the fantasy desk for the fallout.
Tyrese Haliburton's comeback lasted four games. Four games after he worked his way back from a torn right Achilles the left leg has stopped him. Indiana built its season around one man's health. That season is now waiting on one man's left hamstring.
Shams Charania reported via ESPN on Wednesday that Haliburton has sustained a left hamstring strain and will miss time. Pacers doctors and Haliburton are still gathering information and a timeline has not been set. He is out tonight against the Philadelphia 76ers. Nobody in Indiana can put a date on his return because a timeline has not been set.
The warning signs were in plain sight. Haliburton played 35 minutes on Monday at Milwaukee on the second night of a back-to-back. He finished with 22 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds. Indiana listed him as questionable on Tuesday with left hamstring tightness. He was still questionable on Wednesday morning before Charania reported the strain. No single in-game moment has been reported. This does not read like one bad step. It reads like a body that carried a heavy load and warned the team in the soft tissue.
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Haliburton missed the entire 2025-26 season with a torn right Achilles suffered in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals. This injury is to his left hamstring. That is the other leg. The leg he rebuilt held up. The other one did not. Every question Indiana hoped it had answered in October is open again in the first week of the season.
He was not easing his way back either. Through four games Haliburton averaged 21.8 points, a career high, with 9.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals. He shot 51.6 percent from the field and 37.0 percent from three while playing 33.0 minutes per game. Those are not managed minutes. Those are franchise-player minutes for a man coming off a lost season. The early return looked brilliant right up until it looked fragile.
The Haliburton Situation, by the Numbers
- Player: Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers
- Injury: Left hamstring strain, reported by Shams Charania via ESPN on Wednesday, October 28, 2026
- Status: Out tonight against the Philadelphia 76ers; a timeline has not been set
- Previous injury: Torn right Achilles in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals; missed the entire 2025-26 season
- Season line through 4 games: 21.8 points, 9.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game; 51.6 percent from the field and 37.0 percent from three; 33.0 minutes per game
- Monday at Milwaukee: 22 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds in 35 minutes
- Team record: Indiana 2-2; Philadelphia 3-1
- Tonight: Philadelphia at Indiana, 7 PM ET, Gainbridge Fieldhouse, ESPN
- Next four: At Miami on Friday, October 30; at San Antonio on Saturday, October 31; home vs. Brooklyn on Sunday, November 1; home vs. Atlanta on Monday, November 2
- Also out or questionable: Andrew Nembhard questionable with neck soreness; T.J. McConnell out with a right hamstring strain; Ivica Zubac out with an ankle injury
- Team scoring leader: Pascal Siakam, 23.5 points per game
Indiana sits at 2-2 with the worst possible week in front of it. The Pacers host Philadelphia tonight at 7 PM ET at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on ESPN. They play at Miami on Friday, at San Antonio on Saturday, home against Brooklyn on Sunday and home against Atlanta on Monday. That is five games in seven days starting with a 3-1 76ers team. Soft tissue injuries do not care about the calendar. A timeline has not been set so the Pacers cannot plan around a return date.
The rotation behind him is already thin. Pascal Siakam leads the team at 23.5 points per game and now becomes the center of everything Indiana runs. Andrew Nembhard is questionable tonight with neck soreness. T.J. McConnell is out with a right hamstring strain and has not made his season debut. Ivica Zubac is out with an ankle injury. Kelly Oubre Jr. is the sixth man. Quenton Jackson played 27 minutes at Milwaukee. Haliburton is also the fifth Pacer to deal with a hamstring problem since training camp per Scott Agness. One injury is bad luck. A pattern is a bigger problem.
K.O. breaks down the full fantasy fallout from Haliburton's absence on the fantasy page.
Zeus has the full betting fallout on the betting page, including a DraftKings line of Philadelphia -5.5 with a total of 236.5 for tonight that was hung while Haliburton was still questionable.
Zeus Lawson on the betting fallout: the line was hung on a maybe.
None of this buries a 2-2 team in October. It does strip away Indiana's margin. The comeback story, the offense and the identity all run through Haliburton. All of it is paused while a timeline has not been set. The comeback was real. So is the fear that came with it.
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