Last week, during an exhibition game against Oklahoma City, Indiana Pacers guard Johnny Furphy muscled his way past a Thunder defender and slammed home a backboard-shaking tomahawk dunk. When Furphy landed, he paused to stare at the Indiana bench. Among the first players off it: Tyrese Haliburton, who had leapt to his feet in approval.
For Haliburton, the reaction was genuine. It has been four months since the All-NBA guard collapsed in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, his Achilles tendon ruptured. What followed—Indiana’s loss, his subsequent surgery, the months he spent immobilized, spending untold hours playing the latest WWE video game—was difficult. But he has emerged on the other side of it. “You try to move on the best you can,” says Haliburton. “But it hasn’t been easy.”
