Indiana Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton injured in NBA Finals Game 7: See the moment, reactions
Evan Frank Sarah Phipps Nathan J. Fish Grace Smith
Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) goes down in pain Sunday, June 22, 2025, during Game 7 of the NBA Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
Christine Tannous/IndyStar
Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) goes down in pain Sunday, June 22, 2025, during Game 7 of the NBA Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
Christine Tannous/IndyStar
Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) goes down in pain Sunday, June 22, 2025, during Game 7 of the NBA Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
Christine Tannous/IndyStar
Justin Ford, Getty Images
Justin Ford, Getty Images
Pacer teammates gather together after Tyrese Haliburton was hurt during Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Sunday, June 22, 2025.
SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN
Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) is helped up after an injury in the first quarter of Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Sunday, June 22, 2025.
BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN
Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) is helped up after an injury in the first quarter of Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Sunday, June 22, 2025.
BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN
Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) is helped off the court Sunday, June 22, 2025, after sustaining an injury during Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
Christine Tannous/IndyStar
Pacers Tyrese Haliburton is helped off the court after he was hurt during Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Sunday, June 22, 2025.
NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN
Fans react to Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Halburton going down with an injury Sunday, June 22, 2025, during a watch party at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis for Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
Grace Smith/IndyStar
Fans react to Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Halburton going down with an injury Sunday, June 22, 2025, during a watch party at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis for Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
Grace Smith/IndyStar
Fans react to Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Halburton going down with an injury Sunday, June 22, 2025, during a watch party at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis for Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
Grace Smith/IndyStar
Fans react to Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Halburton going down with an injury Sunday, June 22, 2025, during a watch party at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis for Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
Grace Smith/IndyStar
Fans react to Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Halburton going down with an injury Sunday, June 22, 2025, during a watch party at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis for Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
Grace Smith/IndyStar
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New York Times
3 hours ago
- New York Times
NBA offseason themes to watch: Pacers' roster-building, second-apron fears and more
One team's tax situation has turned unpredictable. A player's contract is once again at the center of mixed messaging. And the entire NBA is avoiding one boogeyman. Let's open up the notebook to discuss three themes that have caught my eye heading into the offseason: The Pacers were ready for a historically expensive season. Advertisement A run through the Eastern Conference, even if it had halted before their miraculous seven-game NBA Finals appearance, was enough to justify paying the luxury tax for the first time in 20 years, league sources said. Indiana's payroll was about to reach never-before-seen heights. Life in the NBA changes quickly. Until shortly into Game 7 of the NBA Finals, the Pacers were the favorites to win the East once again next season. They were prepared to pay the tax to do it. Then the heart of their team, Tyrese Haliburton, tore his Achilles. With next season now a wash, the Pacers are still deciding how to handle their financial future, according to league sources. Do they keep everyone together and pay the tax in 2025-26? Or do they make a cost-cutting move or two with Haliburton sidelined and with a squad whose success is capped next season? The Pacers have 10 players under contract for 2025-26. Their salaries alone carry them only $20 million short of the luxury tax line. Those 10 do not include longtime starting center Myles Turner, who hits free agency June 30. Even if he were to re-sign even for a contract well below market value (say, $18 million a year, which is slightly less than he makes now and isn't realistic), his new salary would send Indiana into the tax. Think about some of the comparisons Turner could use to earn a significant raise. Last summer, Jarrett Allen extended with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a deal that will start at $30 million. But Turner just outplayed Allen in a second-round playoff series. The Oklahoma City Thunder paid Isaiah Hartenstein $28.5 million in 2024-25 salary. Nic Claxton re-signed with the Brooklyn Nets last July to make $25.3 million this past season. On Friday, Naz Reid and the Minnesota Timberwolves agreed to a five-year, $125 million contract, team and league sources confirmed to The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski. Advertisement Such is the market for centers, a position making a comeback. And Turner, a defensive difference-maker who can shoot 3s, has a rare skill set. A mammoth offer from another team may not come for Turner, though it's possible a giant contract from someone else would dissuade the Pacers from matching it and bringing him back. Most of the organizations with significant cap space this summer aren't competitive and wouldn't shell out the dough for a premier role player. If the Pacers choose to dip under the tax, they could still re-sign the big man and offload money in another way. Jarace Walker makes $6.7 million next season. Bennedict Mathurin, who is eligible for an extension this summer, makes $9.2 million. Obi Toppin makes $14 million. Or the Pacers could bet on themselves, opting to slide into the tax and keeping a core that just made the finals intact. They could fight to remain competitive in a decrepit Eastern Conference in 2026, then return the following season with a healthy Haliburton and a young nucleus. Indiana is still deciding its path. Denver Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke has had a difficult week. While discussing the limitations for teams that venture into the second apron, a payroll threshold well above the luxury tax that restricts the types of transactions an organization can make, Kroenke dropped what most fans consider a no-no. He referenced a three-time MVP, Nikola Jokić, and the word 'trade' in the same sentence. 'For us as an organization, going into that second apron is not necessarily something that we're scared of, (but) I think that there are rules around it that we needed to be very careful of with our injury history,' Kroenke told reporters on hand. 'The wrong person gets injured, and very quickly you're into a scenario that I never want to have to contemplate, and that's trading No. 15 (Jokić). Advertisement 'We're very conscious of that, pushing forward, providing the resources that we can when the moment arrives. But that second apron — is it a hard cap? I'm not 100 percent sure. But it's something that teams are very aware of.' The reaction to Kroenke's honesty was not kind. Jokić is the NBA's consensus best player. How could an owner, especially one with a reputation of not wanting to spend money, possibly mention even in passing the thought of trading the greatest star in the franchise's history just because of a lowly payroll milestone? Such penny-pinching should be only for the paupers! The answer is because the second apron — even if it does trigger extravagant tax payments — is not just about the extra dollars. Kroenke's point was not that he would want to trade Jokić down the line, no matter what happens with the rest of the roster. It was that the current collective bargaining agreement has set up a reality in which decisions are not always made by the teams, but sometimes for the teams. Franchises stuck above the second apron better be ready to win and win now — or else. A team above the second apron, which projects to be $207.8 million in 2025-26, cannot sign free agents to any salary above the minimum, and certain types of players aren't eligible to sign at all, even for the lowest possible figures. It cannot take in more money than it gives out in trades. Future draft picks get frozen. Trade exceptions are eliminated. Essentially, any way to improve your team evaporates. First and foremost, living in the second apron is about losing resources. As Kroenke spoke at his news conference, a relevant teardown was occurring on the other side of the country. The Boston Celtics, only a year removed from a championship and only a couple of months after a devastating Achilles injury to their best player, Jayson Tatum, had just traded away one of their centerpieces, Jrue Holiday. The move was purely a financial one for a team that feared surpassing the second apron in 2025-26. Advertisement With little to no Tatum expected next season, the Celtics, who just lost in the second round of the playoffs, couldn't justify another year above the second apron. So they traded one starter. Shortly after Kroenke's news conference concluded, they flipped another, sending Kristaps Porziņģis to the Atlanta Hawks, another monetary move. The Celtics are now out of the second apron. They are also a worse basketball team, no longer a part of the East's top tier. One injury, just as Kroenke said with regards to his own squad, forced them to make deals they never would have considered if teams could worry only about basketball and none of the CBA quirks that come with building an NBA winner. When the league and players' association first released this CBA in 2023, conversation followed about the second apron acting as an unofficial hard cap, a concept to which Kroenke alluded. The Nuggets have made odd financial decisions during this time. For example, they're the only team to hand out the taxpayer mid-level exception over the past couple of summers, giving it to Reggie Jackson in 2023 and Dario Sarić in 2024. They regretted both decisions, attaching a slew of second-round picks to Jackson so they could dump him and then watching Sarić struggle this past season. They have treaded between the first and second aprons in the meantime. Denver knows better than most that expensive teams today — more than during previous CBA eras — can't afford to miss on the few swings they get. But the Nuggets are not the only team talking about the second apron this way. It's possible that the only organization above the second apron in 2025-26 will be the Cavaliers. If Cleveland fails to make a consequential run in the playoffs again next season, it will have the same conversation the rest of the league has. Advertisement The point of this CBA was to encourage a changing of the guard. The league wanted parity. It's accomplishing that. But with parity comes hyper-successful organizations that are unable to keep the band together for too long. The rules are working as intended, and while fans may be upset to hear reality phrased the way Kroenke said it, he's hardly the only person in the NBA thinking this way. The Phoenix Suns want to find Beal a new home. The situation — from a winning standpoint, from a personality one, from a financial one — continues to dive. Beal, whom the team traded for two summers ago, still has a couple of seasons and $110 million remaining on his contract. Every possibility has floated to the surface. Phoenix could try to trade Beal, as it did this past season, but his no-trade clause remains. The same that was true before the 2025 trade deadline is the case today, according to a league source familiar with Beal's thought process: Beal would be open to the right trade that sends him the right destination, but his preference is to remain in Phoenix, even if the team won only 35 games a season ago and just downgraded from Kevin Durant, who it dealt to the Houston Rockets last weekend. Since leaving Washington in 2023, Beal's wife and kids have moved from D.C. to Los Angeles and then, before the start of this season, to Phoenix full time. Playing for another team would leave him with two options: He would have to either pull his kids out of school, moving them again, or leave his family altogether, neither of which excites him. So the Suns have tried another strategy. Reports from local outlets have emerged that Phoenix would consider waiving and stretching Beal's contract, a move that could seriously hinder the Suns' flexibility down the line but would help them stay below the second apron in 2025-26. Of course, waiving and stretching Beal — a rule that would allow Phoenix to release Beal from his contract and then spread the $110 million it owes him over five years instead of two, lessening his cap number to approximately $22 million a year — isn't even possible without Beal giving back money, which would be out of character. Advertisement There is a niche rule in the collective bargaining agreement that prevents teams from waiving and stretching players willy-nilly. In this case, the Suns would be victims of it. In any given season, the stretched money on a team's books can equal no more than 15 percent of that year's salary cap. The cap for next season is projected to be $154.6 million. Beal's stretched money, the previously mentioned $22 million, would equal 14.3 percent of that. However, this is where the Suns shot themselves in the foot. In August 2024, they waived and stretched two players: Nassir Little and E.J. Liddell. Despite those moves running under the radar (and despite the eerily similar last names), these moves don't appear little now. Little's money is on Phoenix's books into the 2030s. Liddell's is there for the next two seasons. In 2025-26, the Suns owe the two a combined $3.8 million in dead money, which would combine with Beal's hypothetical dead money to make up more than 15 percent of next season's salary cap. So for the Suns to waive Beal, they would have to get him to agree to give back a consequential portion of his contract — $2.7 million a year over those five years. It adds up to $13.8 million total. Beal could make that money back (or he could possibly add to his income) after hitting the open market. I asked a few executives around the league what they believe Beal could be worth if he were a free agent. The consensus was in the range of the mid-level exception, which starts with a $14.1 million salary in 2025-26. But while certain winning situations or spectacular organizations would appeal to him, according to league sources, he's also not trying to leave his family or upend their lives. It means that once again, the Suns and Beal aren't in a much different situation than they were back when Phoenix was calling around the league in search of a place he'd be willing to go, and that would also be down to absorb his large contract. Despite the noise, the Suns didn't get close to offloading Beal then. At least one crucial element of this saga would have to change for them to get close now. (Top photo of Bradley Beal: Bill Streicher / Imagn Images)
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
OKC Thunder selects Georgetown center Thomas Sorber 15th overall in 2025 NBA Draft
If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission. Pricing and availability are subject to change. The NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder selected Thomas Sorber with the 15th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft on Wednesday night. The Trenton, New Jersey, native declared for the NBA Draft after his freshman season with the Georgetown Hoyas. Sorber averaged 14.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game last season. Advertisement "I think I'm bringing a defensive-minded type of intensity," Sorber told reporters Wednesday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. "Just giving them all I've got on the defensive end. And then on the offensive end, just being a great player, a great offensive player. Just reading the right things, reading the right things to do. Reading the things on defense, hedging or coming back. Just being there at all times, just being able to be a good defender." The 6-foot-10 center spent his high school career in two separate Catholic schools, originally at Trenton Catholic Academy in his hometown before moving to Archbishop Ryan High School in Philadelphia. Driven by faith and family, Sorber filled his school's trophy cabinet with all-Catholic, all-state and Philadelphia Catholic League championship trophies. One year after his graduation, he became the school's first NBA draftee. With a 7-foot-6 wingspan, Sorber tied Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner for second-largest wingspan in the 2025 NBA Combine. Here are five things to know about Sorber: Advertisement Get your Thunder championship keepsakes OKC Thunder draft picks: Grades for Thomas Sorber selection, Kings trade in 2025 NBA Draft Thomas Sorber underwent foot surgery Thomas Sorber dealt with a left-toe injury that ended his lone season with Georgetown in February against Butler. He's been unable to participate in workouts due to his recovery and is expected to miss the NBA Summer League. More: New Orleans Pelicans select Jeremiah Fears No. 7 overall in 2025 NBA Draft Thomas Sorber was a seven-time Big East Freshman of the Week In a conference with teams like UConn, Marquette and Villanova, Sorber stood out. The Georgetown star earned Big East Freshman of the Week seven times, averaging 14.5 points per game before his injury. He eventually lost the Freshman of the Year title to UConn's Liam McNeely. Advertisement Despite the injury, he earned a spot in the conference's All-Freshman team and All-Big East third team. More: 2025 NBA Draft live updates: Cooper Flagg goes 1st to Mavs; Thomas Sorber 15th to Thunder Thomas Sorber was a top-50 prospect out of high school A graduate of the Archbishop Ryan High School in Pennsylvania, Sorber was ranked No. 50 overall in the class of 2025 and No. 3 in the state of Pennsylvania. Before the draft, Sorber returned to his old school to give back to the community and talk to young kids in the school's summer camp. He tallied 18.9 points per game as a senior. More: OKC Thunder trading No. 24 pick Nique Clifford to Sacramento Kings in 2025 NBA Draft Get to know Thomas Sorber's family Thomas Sorber's dad, Peter, was a soccer player at 6-foot-5. Advertisement Sorber's parents fled Liberia in the 1990s during the nation's civil war, and since then have endured hardship to ensure the best life for their three kids. Sorber is not the first to play basketball, as the second oldest kid, Peter Jr., also took on the sport and committed to Morgan State University. Their older sister, Regina, played at Alabama A&M. Peter Sr. lost his battle to colon cancer when Thomas was 6. His mother, Tenneh, dedicated her life to giving the best to Thomas, and when his named was called by the NBA commissioner, she proudly stood by his side waving the Liberian flag. More: What to know about OKC Thunder offseason: Draft picks, contracts after winning NBA title Thomas Sorber is an 'everything' guy His own words. Advertisement Thomas Sorber wanted to make sure he highlighted his versatility when talking to NBA teams. He gets rebounds, blocks, shots, steals, anything that is asked of him. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder selects Thomas Sorber 15th overall in 2025 NBA Draft
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
NBA Summer League schedule 2025: When does OKC Thunder play in Salt Lake City, Las Vegas?
If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission. Pricing and availability are subject to change. NBA Summer League play is right around the corner. The NBA champion OKC Thunder will begin with the Salt Lake City Summer League, which is set for July 5-8. It'll then play a minimum of five games in the Las Vegas Summer League, which is set for July 10-20. Advertisement Here's a complete look at OKC's Summer League schedule, including time, TV schedule and streaming information: Pre-order our new book on Thunder's run to NBA title More: What to know about OKC Thunder offseason: Roster, contracts after winning NBA title OKC Thunder 2025 NBA Summer League schedule All times are Central Salt Lake City Summer League Saturday, July 5: OKC vs. Memphis at 6 p.m. (ESPNU) Monday, July 7: OKC vs. Philadelphia at 6 p.m. (ESPN) Tuesday, July 8: OKC vs. Utah at 8 p.m. (ESPN+) Las Vegas Summer League Thursday, July 10: OKC vs. Brooklyn at 4:30 p.m. (ESPN2) Saturday, July 12: OKC vs. Indiana at 4:30 p.m. (NBA TV) Tuesday, July 15: OKC vs. Orlando at 5:30 p.m. (NBA TV) Wednesday, July 16: OKC vs. New Orleans at 8:30 p.m. (NBA TV) Undrafted NBA free agents tracker: Signings for OKC Thunder, players with Oklahoma ties This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: NBA Summer League 2025: OKC Thunder schedule, game times, TV, stream
