Indiana Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton suffers knee injury against Knicks
Indiana Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton suffers knee injury against Knicks
Indiana will await an injury update to their young star after suffering a knee injury on Wednesday.
The Indiana Pacers lost to the New York Knicks on Wednesday night. What was nearly a 20+ point comeback for the Pacers was made much harder without the help of their star point guard. However, the near comeback is not top of mind after the game’s conclusion.
Tyrese Haliburton left the court early with just a few minutes to go in the third quarter. He had his foot stepped on by Isaiah Hartenstein and landed awkwardly on the left side of his body.
This is the play:
The landing looks uncomfortable for Haliburton. He immediately walked to the Pacers locker room with one shoe on and was initially deemed questionable to return before the status was changed to out.
After the game, Rick Carlisle gave an update on Haliburton to say he would be leaving the building in crutches with a painful left knee injury. He also has a sore left elbow.
“He’ll get checked out tomorrow. We hope it is not serious”, Carlisle said.
Carlisle’s tone when delivering the news seemed matter-of-fact, and he did not speak to Haliburton’s discomfort or pain with the knee or elbow. Haliburton was able to walk on his own power unassisted by the team.
The last time Haliburton had an injury scare he took to Twitter to clear up the concern. He said, “ill be fine, Go 'Cers”, in his response on the platform. There has been no update from him this time around on Wednesday night.
Haliburton had scored 15 points and seven assists before his early exit. The team overall struggled to find shots in the first half but was able to rally in the third and fourth quarters. They put themselves in a position to win and fell just short with the final being 119-113.
All eyes will be on Haliburton as we await more information on his injury and the timeline for recovery. Hopefully, there is only good news on the Pacers star to come.
Injury Updates
The Pacers’ social pages gave an update on Tyrese Haliburton Thursday afternoon. Haliburton suffered two injuries which will require him to miss two weeks at a minimum, followed by a reevaluation.
An official update from the Pacers:
“Tyrese Haliburton suffered a left elbow sprain and a mild left knee bone contusion during the third quarter of last night’s game at New York. He underwent an MRI this afternoon on his elbow and knee in Indianapolis and the team is awaiting additional opinion on the results of those scans.
Haliburton will be re-evaluated in approximately two weeks and updates will be provided as appropriate.”
Left elbow sprain recovery can vary for each person, and I want to preface this by saying I am not a doctor. This is what I have gathered so far.
Athletic Trainer, Jeff Stotts, wrote a story breaking down the differences of impact in elbow sprains using several players as examples. The featured example came from former Pacer Paul George, who suffered a UCL sprain (tear) in his elbow back in 2021.
This is what he had to say about elbow sprains and the recovery timeline for NBA players:
“The average number of missed games for confirmed UCL sprains in the NBA is about 20 games. The number shrinks to 13 games (~28 days) for players that reported Grade 2 (partial tear) sprains. Butler, who suffered a Grade 2 sprain with bone impaction, made the quickest recovery, returning in 11 games (22 days) during the 2014-15 season. Surgery was not needed in any of the examined cases.”
On the high end of games missed, Haliburton could be out for a month or more of play depending on the grade of the sprain. We do not know yet the classification of sprain, so it’s hard to tell what a timeline looks like. Rick Carlisle will likely update Pacers media members when they hold their next practice — that is the news that matters.
Also, Haliburton suffered a bone contusion on his left knee and was using crutches to get around after the game. Stotts also broke down what bone contusions look like for players and what timelines look like.
“Unfortunately for the affected individual, the body’s natural healing response does not differentiate between a bone bruise and a fracture, repairing both in a similar fashion… While the new tissue will eventually return to its original strength, it does take time to complete and a player can be sidelined for a surprisingly lengthy amount of time”.
Either way, Haliburton is going to miss some time for a Pacers team that has surpassed all expectations. It sounds like missing a month or more is not farfetched based on these descriptions.
Now, Indiana will have to find a way to win without their All-Star candidate on the floor who can seemingly make any pass. Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell will be more than ready to help guide the Pacers through this stretch.
Jeff Stotts is a great resource to have, and he certainly knows his stuff. Again I am not a doctor, but someone trying to better understand the situation. We will get a better understanding of timelines from the coaching staff this week, but this at least provides a general idea of what recovery could look like for Indiana’s star.