Pacers Head Coach Speaks to Haliburton Post Surgery
Pacers Head Coach Speaks to Haliburton Post Surgery, Came Away Feeling “Uplifted”
INDIANAPOLIS–Indiana Pacers Head Coach Rick Carlisle spoke with his guard Tyrese Haliburton right after Haliburton had his surgery Monday night.
“The exchange we had on the telephone we had last night at 8:49 pm EST was one of the most uplifting moments of my entire coaching career,” said Carlisle in a Tuesday morning interview on 93.5 and 107.5’s The Fan Morning Show with Kevin Bowen, Jeff Rickard, and James Boyd.
Carlisle said he answered the phone on the first half ring and “sounded totally upbeat.”
“He said, ‘I’m going to be good coach’. As I looked at my phone, I realized that he had sent out a message on our group chat of him in the hospital bed smiling with a thumbs up sign. That was to all of the guys on our roster which included our bench coaches. That was a very uplifting moment for me,” said Carlisle.
But he also didn’t mince words. Carlisle acknowledged that it will be a long road back for Haliburton.
“Obviously, it’ll be very unlikely that he’ll play at all next year. This will allow Andrew Nembhard to step into a different role. That’s pretty obvious and it’s one he’s very capable of. TJ McConnell was signed by ownership last summer to be with us we hope until the end of his career. These two guys will have to lead us in that position. I know (President of Basketball Operation for the Pacers) Kevin Pritchard and (Pacers General Manager) Chad Buchanan will find other ways to get other help,” said Carlisle.
Before the end of the NBA Finals, the Pacers announced that they reacquired their first-round 2026 NBA Draft pick from the New Orleans Pelicans after trading away their No. 23 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and the rights to guard Mojave King.
“The fact that we traded our pick this year to get our pick back next year is pretty amazing foresight when you consider what happened to Tyrese. There’s certainly a chance that that will be a higher pick and it will be good to have that in our pocket,” said Carlisle.
Carlisle said re-signing Myles Turner is still the “#1 priority” this offseason.
