Yeah, the oddsmakers got it right with the final score in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Some would tell you that they lucked out. Others would say that they had it figured out, no matter what transpired on the court—even if it was something unforeseen.
`Of course, I am referring to the Achilles tendon injury suffered by Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton during the first quarter of the game. His injury took away the ability for the Pacers to remain sustainable on offense.
Yes, Indiana actually maintained a one point lead at halftime. That is akin to an adrenaline rush spurring on greater performances—until the adrenaline is no longer secreting.
Which is exactly what happened in the third quarter. A healthy Oklahoma City team—one which ended the 2024-25 season with the third most wins ever in the regular season and playoffs combined and was led by the NBA scoring leader, M.V.P. and Finals M.V.P. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander—was the prohibitive favorite at the outset of the playoffs and even at the beginning of the Finals.
Except nobody got the memo in Hoosierland. Indiana Head Coach Rick Carlisle and his team scrapped, fought and gallantly tried to go the distance with the eventual champs.
In the end, their hopes rose and fell on that court with Haliburton banging his fist in frustration, knowing what had happened to him. The next day, there were a lot of what ifs stated regarding the Indiana star. Unfortunately, basketball games aren’t subject to conjecture, nor should Haliburton’s injury—when he was excelling on the floor while playing with a supposed calf strain that wasn’t limiting him until the fateful moment his tendon decided otherwise—tarnish in any way what the OKC team achieved.
The Thunder are the champions and they should be celebrated—like Oklahomans did in the near 100 degree heat at the victory parade. And heading into the NBA off-season, OKC is the odds on favorite to repeat as champions.
What struck me about Haliburton’s injury is that Achilles tendon tears are becoming more frequent. Just in this playoffs alone, Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee’s Damion Lillard both suffered the gruesome injuries which seemingly led to their teams’ demise. Overall, seven NBA players went down with Achilles tendon injuries in 2024-25.
With Haliburton and Tatum, their injuries were reminiscent of those suffered by Golden State’s Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson. Had neither player gone down, Golden State’s dynasty might have been mentioned in the same breath as the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston and Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, as the Warriors were likely to have won two more crowns.
Tatum, Haliburton and Lillard will not play next season. While age and rehabilitative measures favor the first two, Lillard is 34 and may now see the beginning of a downward turn in his efficiency.
Not everybody comes back the same for the type of injuries—no matter how skilled the surgeons are with the most up-to-date techniques. Durant is still an elite player, (now playing in Houston after Phoenix engineered a trade) but Thompson has lost a step in his Hall of Fame career. It is not like Tommy John surgery in baseball, where pitchers seemingly recover and sometimes are even better than before the injury.
Yet both sports are plagued by an epidemic of injuries taking away stars. Look at Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees; he’s out for the season after elbow surgery. Elbow repair kept Shohei Ohtani from pitching for his Los Angeles Dodgers until recently.
And it happened to Aaron Rodgers, then of the New York Jets, in the first series of his first regular season game with the team. NYJ plummeted to another losing season after so much optimism and is still searching for a way to return to the playoffs.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has commissioned a study as to why these injuries are happening. I suggest that they start with looking at the history of two of the players involved.
Haliburton and Tatum both played on the gold medal-winning United States Men’s Basketball Team. Tatum played in the NBA Finals prior to the Olympics when the Celtics won it all. Haliburton and the Pacers made it to the Eastern Conference finals in 2024 before reaching the championship round this season.
That sounds like chronic overuse and training. In a sport which requires peak performance—jumping, sprinting, maneuvering. All of the stars initially complained about calf strains, yet chose to play on until the ruptures occurred. A University of Florida study led to the conclusion that the stress on the tendons will lead to micro tears and a weakening of the tendon from the repetitive activity., citing the years of play and the impact it has on athletes from their youth to the pros.
So if the study wants to prevent these untimely injuries from becoming chronic, stricter rules must be implemented when there is a hint of a calf injury. Without clearer diagnoses, more players are going to fall onto a floor in a heap, writhing in pain.
While the NBA is against load management for players and especially stars, they need to look at the number of games which seemingly is too many in a season and will wear a player down. Lebron James is beginning to suffer more and more leg injuries as he is in his 40’s. He is a tremendous physical specimen and he, like Golden State’s Steph Curry, both devote themselves to off-the court training to withstand the rigors of multiple NBA seasons. But still suffer lower body injuries.
The last thing Silver and the worldwide array of NBA fans wants to see are elite players on the sidelines, their careers in jeopardy. Unfortunately, this study won’t lead to a reduction of the number of games in a season.
Meanwhile, Eastern Conference powers Boston, Indiana and Milwaukee now have to take different paths with their leaders out for the season. Boston has already made trades. Nobody really knows what the Pacers are going to do, other than they exchanged their 2025 draft pick (#23) with New Orleans to reacquire their 2026 first round pick. And there is a lot of speculation concerning Giannis Antetokoumpo remaining with the Bucks now that Lillard is down for 2025-26.
Will it 2025-26 be Cleveland’s year? Could the New York Knicks actually win the East—provided they make the right choice for the team’s next head coach? Or will Detroit, a young and hungry squad, take the next steps on the ladder to success? Unless those teams lose a star to another debilitating injury.
It was a sad ending to the NBA season with Haliburton’s injury somewhat overshadowing what OKC showed us all. I hope the players take good care of their bodies in preparation for next season—and the teams take extra precautions to guard their investments.
The NBA Draft took place over two days this past week. As expected, Cooper Flagg of Duke went to Dallas as the top pick and Rutgers’ freshman star Dylan Harper joined San Antonio as the second selection. On draft night, Harper received a welcoming call from teammate Victor Wembanyama; the potential for the duo to shine for many years to come has to excite Spurs fans.
In Utah, there are questions why the franchise selected Harper’s former Rutgers teammate Ace Bailey with the fifth pick. Bailey has been an enigma this entire time leading up to draft day. He wouldn’t work out for teams, citing his NBA Combine visit and his college resume as sufficient proof of how talented he is. Bailey’s advisers told at least one team in the top five picks not to bother to take him.
Once selected, Bailey seemed anything but thrilled that he was going to Salt Lake City. Bailey doesn’t have to report until Sunday or Monday at the latest. I truly wonder if he will in fact show up, and if he does, will he even be willing to participate in workouts and play in the NBA Summer League.
I don’t know what the end game is for Bailey and his advisers—are they same ones involved with Andrew Cuomo’s unsuccessful New York City mayoral campaign?. Ace left a lot of money on the table as his draft stock tumbled. He reminds me of Ben Simmons, another misguided youth who was told how great he was and never panned out—injuries notwithstanding.
Let’s leave this week’s installment with a nice nugget (no, not referring to the Denver franchise). Brooklyn selected two Israeli players in the NBA Draft. Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf are now Nets, playing in a borough which is synonymous with Judaism. The pair are the first Israeli-born players chosen in any NBA Draft.
Good choices for the former New Jersey franchise. Israel seems to be having a good week in its relations with the United States. As opposed to a bad week for Indiana.
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