Before Indiana Pacers superstar Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals, the point guard was well on his way to becoming a household name. Sure, Haliburton had been well-known to basketball fans for years at that point, but an NBA championship ring would’ve pushed him into another realm of stardom.
Alas, it wasn’t meant to be after Haliburton went down midway through the first quarter of Game 7, with the Oklahoma City Thunder cruising to victory in his absence.
Haliburton’s injury coming at the latest possible moment of the season meant he would miss the Pacers’ entire 2025-26 campaign rehabbing. Hali would raise his national profile a bit by contributing to Prime Video’s NBA Nightcap throughout the season, but the Pacers guard was largely out of sight and out of mind as the team finished 19-63, the worst record in franchise history.
But with Haliburton poised to make his return this upcoming season, and the Pacers looking to right the ship, Indiana would seem to be an intriguing team headed into 2026-27. Alas, the NBA schedule makers didn’t find them intriguing enough to put the team in a national television window for Haliburton’s return. The Pacers will open the season against the New Orleans Pelicans on Oct. 21 and it will not be nationally televised.
That news didn’t sit well with Haliburton, who shared his feelings on a recent episode of the Numbers on the Board podcast.
“Name any other person that you compare to my level of a basketball player, wherever you have me ranked, if they tore their Achilles and missed 16 months, do you think that [first game back] would be on national TV?” Haliburton asked rhetorically. “Do you think that game would be at home if not on national television? Do you think that game would be at New Orleans?
“When I saw the schedule I was like, ‘Oh, wow.’ I was shocked to see that. But we move on.”
Haliburton has a point. If this exact situation happened to, say, Anthony Edwards or Victor Wembanyama, there’s zero doubt their return game would be on national television. The NBA is making its perspective on Haliburton’s star power very clear by sending him down to New Orleans, projected to be one of the worst teams in the league next season, for his first game back.
In total, the Pacers have just 11 national television games scheduled for the upcoming season, well behind the maximum of 34 given to the San Antonio Spurs, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, and the LeBronified Philadelphia 76ers. The Pacers rank 15th out of 30 NBA teams in terms of national television exposure.
It seems the NBA is making Haliburton and his Pacers prove their meddle again before beaming them out to the entire country.
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