“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.”
That was Tyrese Haliburton after undergoing an MRI on his strained calf and before Game 6 of the NBA Finals last June. He knew the risk he was taking, he even called Kevin Durant — who had tried to play through a calf injury in the Finals with the Warriors and tore his Achilles — for advice. Haliburton got through Game 6, but early in Game 7, the worst possible outcome happened — Haliburton went down with a torn Achilles. However, he has no regrets, he told Logan Paul and the crew on the Impaulsive podcast (hat tip Hoopshype).
Haliburton: “I had some close friends, family, and mentors in my life call me after Game 5 and say, ‘Hey, shut it down.’”
Interviewer: “Do you wish you would have taken that advice?
Haliburton: “No. Hell no. Hell no. I’ll be honest—I called KD after I got my MRI after Game 5. I said, ‘Bro, do you regret playing in the game you tore [your Achilles]?’ He said, ‘No, not at all.’ He said, ‘You never…’ I was like, ‘Alright.’ Yeah, I wasn’t going to switch anyway, so I’m glad he said that. It made me feel a little bit better. But no, I don’t regret it, bro.”
Haliburton also said it would be 15 months from the injury before he’d play in a game again, echoing what the Pacers have said, that he is out for all of next season.
In a podcast conversation that covers a wide range of topics, Haliburton also laughed at the idea that the NBA is scripted or rigged.
“Well, the problem is, I play for the Indiana Pacers. So, if the NBA was going to rig the league, the last two teams they’d probably rig it for would be the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder.”