Tyrese Haliburton Greeted by Adoring Pacers Fans at Airport Hours After Game 7 Injury

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The Indiana Pacers' season came to an absolutely crushing end on Sunday night as the team lost Tyrese Haliburton to an Achilles injury en route to a Game 7 NBA Finals loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. It basically can't get worse than that for fans— the team's best player going down with as serious an injury as possible in a winner-take-all championship game. It's enormously depressing no matter which way you slice it.
But Pacers fans are a resilient bunch and wouldn't let the season end without one final hero's welcome for Haliburton. They waited for the superstar point guard at the airport into the wee hours of the morning on Monday as Indiana traveled back from Oklahoma City. Upon arrival, Haliburton was greeted with loud applause and a "Tyrese!" chant. He responded with a wave.
We love you, Tyrese! ❤️🏀 Fans are still up welcoming back the Pacers at the airport after their hard fought Game 7 in Oklahoma City.
— WTHR.com (@WTHRcom) June 23, 2025
Read the game recap here: https://t.co/hoegePk0xI pic.twitter.com/5EAUEDIRpp
A brutal ending to an inspiring playoff run for Haliburton. And now a potentially lengthy recovery process begins.
But clearly Pacers fans will have his back all the while.
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Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.
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