Tyrese Haliburton’s injury has become a huge storyline during the 2025 NBA Finals. Now we have an idea just how bad the Indiana Pacers star’s calf injury is.
Early on Tuesday, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania reported Haliburton would undergo an MRI to determine the severity of his calf strain. He followed that up a few hours later with even more information.
During an appearance on NBA Today, Charania told host Malika Andrews that if the Pacers were in the regular season or the first round of the playoffs, Haliburton wouldn’t be playing.
“The belief is Tyrese Haliburton has strained his right calf and I’m told he will undergo an MRI to determine the exact severity of this strain. And remember, this is the same leg that he had ankle soreness in last week,” Charania said. “He was adamant after Game 5 that he would be playing Thursday, Game 6 of the NBA Finals. It is the NBA Finals but it was described to me today that if this were the regular season, or even the first round, there’s doubt that he would play.”
Charania continued by saying once the Pacers and Haliburton get the results back, they’ll know how to plan for Game 6.
Haliburton struggled mightily in Indiana’s 120–109 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 5. He scored four points, added seven rebounds and dished out six assists in 34 minutes, but went 0 for 6 from the field. He was visibly limping at times.
The Thunder hold a 3–2 lead in the series and the Pacers need their star healthy if they want to have a chance of coming from behind to win a championship.
