Tyrese Haliburton didn’t just poke the Knicks’ nerves at a WWE event - he reminded everybody that the Pacers-Knicks edge is still very much alive.
Haliburton, who helped fuel Indiana’s run to the Finals two years ago with some of his best work coming against New York, made his latest message to Jalen Brunson plain: "You can't beat me... see you in a couple of weeks."
That kind of timeline matters. A “couple of weeks” would point to Haliburton being ready for opening night, which is a much more optimistic outlook than the mid-to-late December return that had been assumed. After Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum’s return from an Achilles tear went poorly, and with Tatum having suffered his injury around the same time as Haliburton, the slower path starts to look like the wiser one.
Even so, the pressure that comes with that comeback is enormous. The Pacers don’t have a real fallback if Haliburton isn’t the same player he was a little more than a year ago.
Between Haliburton, Tatum and Damian Lillard, the league is about to have three different Achilles return paths unfolding at once. For Indiana, the equation is brutally simple: either Haliburton comes back right, or this whole era can unravel fast.
The Knicks, of course, know exactly why Haliburton’s words landed with a thud. Two years ago, he torched them in the playoffs with a game-tying buzzer-beater in Game 1, a 32-point, 15-assist triple-double in Game 4 and a blowout close-out Game 6 at home. That series sent Indiana to the NBA Finals for the first time in 25 years, with New York left at home.
What followed is part of the backdrop now. Haliburton tore his Achilles tendon in Game 7, the Pacers lost the Finals and the Knicks rolled through the playoffs a year later while Indiana went through what amounted to a gap year.
But the rivalry never really went away. Haliburton’s Pacers have played Brunson’s Knicks 13 times in the playoffs, and Indiana owns the edge at 8-5. That doesn’t make the Pacers New York’s kryptonite, but it does make them a lot more comfortable than the Knicks’ other recent postseason opponents.
And this time, the road looks tougher. The Knicks’ path last year came against the play-in Atlanta Hawks, the overmatched Philadelphia 76ers and whatever you want to call the James Harden Cavaliers. Indiana is back now, and with an upgraded center spot from a trade that looks better by the day, the East suddenly has a very different feel.
If Haliburton is healthy, this conference could come down to the Knicks and Pacers, with the Sixers in the mix thanks to their revamped, star-studded starting lineup.
There’s plenty of history to feed another showdown, too. Reggie Miller and John Starks will always hover over this matchup.
Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby bring their own shared memories from their championship run together with the Toronto Raptors. And Haliburton and Brunson are still the point guards everyone wants to compare.
The next chapter can’t get here soon enough.
In Other News...
Pacers Two-Way Battle Just Claimed Its First Summer League Casualty
The Pacers two-way competition has already thinned out, and Summer League has done some of the sorting for them. Indiana entered camp with a cluster of young players fighting for limited spots, but one of the early names in the mix is now out of the picture, leaving Braden Smith, Kobe Brown, Jalen Slawson and Ethan Thompson still in contention as the team sorts through its three two-way contracts.
The move adds another layer to a battle that already had a clear favorite in the room, with Smith expected to land one of those deals after being taken 38th overall. Peter had shown enough to stay on the radar after appearing in 38 NBA games last season and spending time in the G League, and he also put together a solid Summer League showing before the Pacers made their first cut. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers May Be One Late Move From Changing Everything
Indiana spent much of the 2025-26 season dealing with the kind of injury trouble that can expose every soft spot on a roster, and the Pacers are now facing the bigger question of whether patchwork fixes are enough. The concern is not just depth, but ceiling, and that has pushed the conversation toward a more aggressive kind of roster work before next season.
One path is the late-summer swing, the sort of move that comes after the market has thinned and a team decides to get bold anyway. Indiana has some salary it could move if it wants to reshape the group, and the front office will have to decide whether to keep trying to build around the current core or use that flexibility to chase a more meaningful upgrade. [Read more 🡒]
Tyrese Haliburton Just Sent A Chilling Reminder To Jalen Brunson
Tyrese Haliburtons latest appearance with Jalen Brunson had nothing to do with the NBA box score and everything to do with the old Pacers-Knicks edge that still lingers. The two guards showed up as guests at a WWE event at Madison Square Garden, where the setting gave Haliburton a chance to needle Brunson in front of a New York crowd, a reminder that their playoff rivalry has not faded just because the season moved on.
For Indiana, the bigger picture is Haliburtons return path after the torn Achilles tendon he suffered in the 2025 NBA Finals. He is expected back for training camp, and while the Knicks are coming off a championship run with Brunson as Finals MVP, the Pacers are still waiting to see how their star looks when he gets back on the floor. The WWE cameo was just a detour, but it was also a small glimpse of the competitive spark that will follow him into whatever comes next. [Read more 🡒]