Indiana Pacers Wiretap

Tyrese Haliburton will officially miss the entire 2025-26 season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn right Achilles tendon, the Indiana Pacers announced on Monday.

"I have no doubt that he will be back better than ever," said Pacers president Kevin Pritchard. "The surgery went well. It was a little higher and he gets more blood to that [as he recovers].

"He will not play next year though. We would not jeopardize that now. So don't get any hopes up that he will play."

Pritchard added that he would not have let Haliburton play in Game 7 if he were to do it over again.

"If you're asking me, would I have him do it over and over? I would not. 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."

Haliburton averaged 18.6 points, 9.2 assists, and 3.5 rebounds last season.

The Pacers lost Myles Turner to the Bucks this offseason, while acquiring Jay Huff from the Grizzlies. 

Pritchard added that the Pacers were prepared to go into the luxury tax to re-sign Turner and admitted he was surprised of how the Bucks created cap space to sign the center. 

The Indiana Pacers are acquiring Jay Huff from the Memphis Grizzlies. Indiana will send Memphis a second-round round pick, as well as the rights to swap a future second-round pick.

Memphis will clear a bit more room under the salary cap, as they create the room necessary to renegotiate-and-extend the contract of Jaren Jackson Jr.

The Pacers get some additional center depth on an affordable contract in Huff. In his most extensive NBA action last season, Huff averaged 6.9 points and nearly a block per game in 11.7 minutes per night off the Grizzlies bench.

The Indiana Pacers have registered interest in signing Deandre Ayton, sources told Jake Fischer of The People's Insider.

Ayton and the Blazers agreed to a buyout over the weekend. 

Ayton signed a four-year, $133 million offer sheet with the Pacers back in July 2022 as a restricted free agent with the Suns. 

Fischer adds that Ayton is still likely to end up on the Lakers. 

The Pacers are looking to replace Myles Turner, who signed with the Bucks on Tuesday. 

Myles Turner and the Milwaukee Bucks have agreed to a four-year, $107 million contract. The deal contains a player option for Year 4 ahead of the 2028-29 season and a full 15 percent trade kicker.

The Bucks created the necessary cap space to sign Turner away from the Indiana Pacers by using the waive-and-strech provision on Damian Lillard.

Turner had been expected to re-sign with the Pacers with the team preparing to go into the luxury tax. However, the Pacers will be without Tyrese Haliburton next season as he recovers from his own Achilles injury. The Pacers suddenly have a massive hole at center that they may need to find a trade to fill.

Jon Horst and CAA Co-Head of Basketball Austin Brown partnered on executing a complex deal to improve their roster around Giannis Antetokounmpo. Turner and Antetokounmpo both valued the opportunity to partner together on the court during the process.

According to Jake Fischer, the Pacers never really exceeded an offer of $60 million over three years to Turner.

Steven Ashworth, RJ Felton, and Samson Johnson agreed to Exhibit 10 contracts with the Indiana Pacers. 

Ashworth, from Creighton, lead the Big East with 6.8 assists per game.

Felton averaged 18.8 points and 6.4 rebounds at East Carolina.

Johnson is the all-time winningest player in UConn history and won two national titles. 

The Phoenix Suns acquired the No. 31 overall pick and selected Rasheer Fleming out of Saint Joseph's to begin the second round of the 2025 NBA draft.

2025 NBA Draft, Round 1 Results
31. Phoenix Suns: Rasheer Fleming, F, Saint Joseph's
32. Orlando Magic: Noah Penda, F, France
33. Charlotte Hornets: Sion James, SF, Duke
34. Charlotte Hornets: Ryan Kalkbrenner, C, Creighton
35. Philadelphia 76ers: Johni Broome, C, Auburn
36. Los Angeles Lakers: Adou Thiero, PF, Arkansas
37. Detroit Pistons: Chaz Lanier, SG, Tennessee
38. Indiana Pacers: Kam Jones, PG/SG, Marquette
39. Toronto Raptors: Alijah Martin, SG, Florida
40. New Orleans Pelicans: Micah Peavy, SG/SF, Georgetown
41. Phoenix Suns: Koby Brea, SG/SF, Kentucky
42. Sacramento Kings: Maxime Raynaud, C, Stanford
43. Washington Wizards: Jamir Watkins, SG/SF, Florida State
44. Oklahoma City Thunder: Brooks Barnhizer, SF, Northwestern
45. Minnesota Timberwolves: Rocco Zikarsky, C, Brisbane
46. Boston Celtics: Amari Williams, C, Kentucky
47. Milwaukee Bucks: Bogoljub Markovic, PF/C, Mega Superbet 
48. Memphis Grizzlies: Javon Small, PG, West Virginia
49. Cleveland Cavaliers: Tyrese Proctor, G, Duke
50. LA Clippers: Kobe Sanders, SG/SF, Nevada
51. New York Knicks: Mohamed Diawara, F, France
52. Golden State Warriors: Alex Toohey, SF/PF, Sydney
53. Utah Jazz: John Tonje, SF, Wisconsin
54. Indiana Pacers: Taelon Peter, G, Liberty
55. Chicago Bulls: Lachlan Olbrich, PF/C, Illawarra
56. Golden State Warriors: Will Richard, SG, Florida
57. Boston Celtics: Max Shulga, G, VCU
58. Cleveland Cavaliers: Saliou Niang, SG/SF, Trento 
59. Houston Rockets: Jahmai Mashack, G, Tennessee

The Dallas Mavericks have opened up the 2025 NBA draft by selecting Cooper Flagg out of Duke with the first overall pick. Flagg will wear No. 32 for the Mavericks after wearing No. 2 at Duke The Mavericks won the lottery with just a 1.8 percent change, which is the fourth lowest in NBA history.

The San Antonio Spurs selected Dylan Harper out of Rutgers with the No. 2 pick. San Antonio has the two most recent Rookies of the Year in Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle.

The Philadelphia 76ers then selected V.J. Edgecombe out of Baylor at No. 3 followed by Kon Knueppel to the Charlotte Hornets at No. 4.

The first real surprise of the draft came when the Utah Jazz selected Ace Bailey. Bailey had an unorthodox lead up to the draft in which he didn't work out for any teams. Bailey had hoped to be selected by the Washington Wizards, New Orleans Pelicans or Brooklyn Nets.

2025 NBA Draft, Round 1 Results
1. Dallas Mavericks: Cooper Flagg, SF/PF, Duke
2. San Antonio Spurs: Dylan Harper, PG, Rutgers
3. Philadelphia 76ers: V.J. Edgecombe, SG, Baylor
4. Charlotte Hornets: Kon Knueppel, SF, Duke
5. Utah Jazz: Ace Bailey, SF, Rutgers
6. Washington Wizards: Tre Johnson, SG, Texas
7. New Orleans Pelicans: Jeremiah Fears, PG, Oklahoma
8. Brooklyn Nets: Egor Demin, PG, BYU
9. Toronto Raptors: Collin Murray-Boyles, PF/C, South Carolina
10. Phoenix Suns (via PHX/BKN/HOU): Khaman Maluach, C, Duke
11. Memphis Grizzlies (via POR): Cedric Coward, SF, Washington State
12. Chicago Bulls: Noa Essengue, PF, Ratiopharm Ulm
13. New Orleans Pelicans (via SAC/ATL): Derik Queen, C, Maryland
14. San Antonio Spurs: (via ATL): Carter Bryant, SF, Arizona
15. Oklahoma City Thunder (via MIA/LAC): Thomas Sorber, C, Georgetown
16. Portland Trail Blazers (via ORL/MEM): Yang Hansen, C, China
17. Minnesota Timberwolves (via DET/NYK): Joan Beringer, C, Cedevita Olimpija
18. Utah Jazz (via MEM/WAS): Walter Clayton Jr., PG, Florida
19. Brooklyn Nets (via MIL/NYK): Nolan Traore, PG, Saint-Quentin
20. Miami Heat (via GSW): Kasparas Jakucionis, PG, Illinois
21. Washington Wizards (via MIN/UTA): Will Riley, SF, Illinois
22. Brooklyn Nets (via LAL/NOP/ATL): Drake Powell, SG/SF, North Carolina
23. Atlanta Hawks (via IND/NOP): Asa Newell, PF/C, Georgia
24. Sacramento Kings (via LAC/OKC): Nique Clifford, SG, Colorado State
25. Orlando Magic (via DEN): Jase Richardson, PG/SG, Michigan State
26. Brooklyn Nets (via NYK): Ben Saraf, PG/SG, Ratiopharm Ulm
27. Brooklyn Nets (via HOU): Danny Wolf, PF, Michigan
28. Boston Celtics: Hugo Gonzalez, SG/SF, Real Madrid
29. Charlotte Hornets (via CLE/UTA/PHX): Liam McNeeley, SG/SF, UConn
30. LA Clippers (via OKC): Yanic Konan Niederhauser, C, Penn State

The San Antonio Spurs have agreed to trade the No. 38 pick in the 2025 NBA draft to the Indiana Pacers for a future second round pick and cash. The future pick is a 2030 second rounder originating with the Sacramento Kings.

The Spurs also own the No. 14 pick in the first round originating with the Atlanta Hawks.

The Pacers recently traded the No. 23 pick in the draft to the New Orleans Pelicans to reacquire their own 2026 first round pick. The Pacers also own the No. 54 pick in the second round. 

Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals averaged 16,353,000 viewers on ABC, making it the most-watched game in six years since 2019. The seven-game series won by the Oklahoma City Thunder over the Indiana Pacers averaged 10,266,000 viewers and delivered the seven most-watched broadcasts on all of television since the first week of May. 

The game peaked with 19,281,000 viewers between 9:45 and 10 PM ET.

ESPN and ABC averaged 6.12 million viewers across 36 games, representing an increase of 10 percent over 2024.

Tyrese Haliburton has been diagnosed with a torn right Achilles tendon. Haliburton suffered the injury in Game 7 of the NBA Finals which the Indiana Pacers went on to lose to the Oklahoma City Thunder by a final score of 103-91. Haliburton will soon undergo surgery on the Achilles with  Dr. Martin O’Malley at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and will likely miss the entire 2025-26 season as he rehabilitates.

Haliburton played through a calf strain in the same leg during Games 5, 6 and 7 of the Finals. Haliburton made three of his first four three-point attempts in Game 7 before suffering the injury.

Haliburton is the third All-Star to have suffered an Achilles tear in these playoffs alone after Damian Lillard and Jayson Tatum.

The day before Game 7, Haliburton acknowledged after practice his leg was "still stiff, still sore," but he said he planned to play through it.