Tyrese Haliburton is set to begin Indiana Pacers training camp without restrictions as he completes his return from the torn right Achilles that cost him the entire 2025-26 NBA season.
Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan said Haliburton is expected to be "100% full go" when training camp opens, with Indiana not planning to place any immediate restrictions on its star guard.
Haliburton has not played an NBA game since suffering the injury during the first quarter of Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. His return to unrestricted team activity represents the biggest milestone yet in a rehabilitation process lasting more than a year.
Indiana could still manage Haliburton's workload depending on how his body responds once practices and games begin, but the Pacers currently expect him to enter camp fully cleared.
For Indiana, this is the moment the recovery story finally begins turning back into a basketball story.
Haliburton has spent more than a year working toward being medically capable of playing again. Now comes the considerably harder question: how quickly can he become Tyrese Haliburton again?
The distinction matters. Full clearance doesn't mean the Pacers should expect the player who drove them through the Eastern Conference and into the 2025 NBA Finals to appear instantly. NBA game speed, conditioning, contact and the accumulated workload of an 82-game season cannot be recreated completely during rehabilitation.
Indiana understands that. Buchanan has previously stressed the need for patience with Haliburton, and the Pacers can still reduce his workload on individual days if their medical staff believes it is necessary.
But removing the initial restrictions is nevertheless a major milestone.
Haliburton's absence fundamentally changed Indiana last season. The Pacers went from NBA finalists to a 19-63 season without the player who orchestrates their pace, transition attack and much of their offensive identity.
His return therefore isn't simply Indiana getting an All-Star guard back. It gives the Pacers the opportunity to discover how much of the team that reached the Finals can be reconstructed around him.
There will almost certainly be uneven nights. There may be minutes management. And after such a lengthy absence, judging Haliburton by his first few games would tell us very little.
The important part right now is simpler: after missing an entire season, Haliburton is entering camp as a basketball player rather than a rehabilitation project.
LEAN EDGE VERDICT
Full clearance is a milestone, not the finish line.
Indiana doesn't need Haliburton to reproduce his 2025 playoff form in October. It needs him healthy enough to rediscover it over time.
After more than a year spent waiting for his return, the Pacers can finally start finding out what this team looks like with Tyrese Haliburton running it again.
