Thomas Bryant says the quiet part out loud about Tyrese Haliburton's Finals injury

The Indiana Pacers were just one win away from winning their first-ever NBA championship in June before Tyrese Haliburton suffered a devastating Achilles injury early in Game 7. Some fans have said that, had Haliburton never suffered this injury, Indiana would have won it all. On Monday, former Pacers big man Thomas Bryant echoed this sentiment during his Media Day appearance.

"Thomas Bryant asked if the Pacers win The Finals last year if Tyrese Haliburton doesn’t go down in Game 7: 'Yes.' Said it as quickly and firmly as he possibly could have," Danny Cunningham of The Inside Shot wrote on X.

Tyrese Haliburton's injury drastically changed the Pacers' Game 7 outlook

The 2025 NBA Finals were an incredible series that went back and forth. Though the Oklahoma City Thunder were the best team in the league, Indiana showed that it wasn't intimidated by them, taking a 2-1 lead in the series. Ultimately, both teams met in Oklahoma City in a decisive Game 7, and early on, things were going in the Pacers' way.

At the time of Haliburton's injury, the game was tied 16-16, but he and the Pacers were on fire. The Iowa State alum had scored nine points on 3-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc, and they looked poised to make it competitive. However, after Haliburton, who was already dealing with a calf strain, went down, it completely changed the game.

After Indiana's Game 7 loss, forward Obi Toppin spoke about how much he and the team missed Haliburton's presence and how it negatively impacted their performance the rest of the way.

"We needed Ty out there … It sucked the soul out of us," Toppin said. "I ain't going to say out of everybody. But I don't feel like I played good because I was thinking about it the whole day and I felt like it was my fault."

There will never be a way to know for sure, but it is fair to believe that the Pacers would have won this game if their star guard was available, especially because they had a 48-47 lead at halftime anyway. This will always be one of the biggest "what-ifs" in franchise history, which is unfortunate given how magical a playoff run the team had leading up to that point.

Following Haliburton's injury, the Pacers are now going to be without their star for all of next season. In his place, they will slide Andrew Nembhard over to the point full-time.

Though this is not ideal, it could still work for Indiana. Nembhard is a natural point guard and has stepped up numerous times in the past (see his Games 3 and 4 performances against the Boston Celtics in the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals). With the Canadian native now running the show for a season, the Pacers will have a good opportunity to experiment a bit with their roster and see what works and what doesn't for when Haliburton returns.

The Pacers should be able to re-establish themselves as title contenders sooner rather than later. They have an incredibly bright future and a young, hungry roster. However, until they make it back to the NBA Finals, their 2025 loss is going to sting, especially knowing exactly how close they were to hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy for the very first time.