Tyrese Haliburton Suffers Calf Strain, NBA Finals Future In Question

The Oklahoma City Thunder are up 3-2 in the 2025 NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers, for the first time playing with a lead in this series. Oklahoma City has two chances to close out this series with one coming at home.

In Game 5, Tyrese Haliburton didn't make a single field goal, going 0-for-6, while clearly being limited by a lower leg injury that saw him exit the game multiple times in discomfort. Following his 35 minutes of play, that was the biggest story in Indiana's postgame press conference.

"He's not a hundred percent. It's pretty clear. But I don't think he's going to miss the next game. We were concerned at halftime, and he insisted on playing. I thought he made a lot of really good things happen in the second half," Head Coach Rick Carlisle said following Game 5. "But he's not a hundred percent. There's a lot of guys in the series that aren't."

Haliburton is determined to play in this Game 6 as the Indiana Pacers hope to stave off elimination in the 2025 NBA Finals.

"I mean, it's the NBA Finals. It's the Finals, man. I've worked my whole life to be here and I want to be out there to compete. Help my teammates any way I can. I was not great tonight by any means, but it's not really a thought of mine to not play here. If I can walk, then I want to play. They understand that. And it is what it is. Got to be ready to go for Game 6," Haliburton detailed postgame.

Haliburton was asked how he tried to impact the game in the second half of Monday's affair while dealing with this injury.

"Just trying to keep pace in the game, impact whatever way I can. Just trying to get P the ball in the right spots. Try to get the ball to guys in the right spots if I can," Haliburton said. "As far as what happened there, we have to watch film to see it. We feel like we did a good job in the second half of putting pace in the game, and really getting out and running. We thought we did a better job of that in the second half, but we have to really cut down on the turnovers. The turnovers are really killing us right now, especially the first half. We know we can be better there. We've got to be ready to go for Game 6."

Haliburton has dreamed of this his entire life and it is hard to protect a player from himself in situations like this. With multiple days off hopefully Haliburton can recover.

ESPN has reported that the Pacers superstar suffered strained right calf and will undergo an MRI to test the severity of the injury ahead of Game 6.

Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton is believed to have suffered a strained right calf and will undergo an MRI to determine the severity of the strain, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/4FTIoB1RVU
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 17, 2025