How will Tyrese Haliburton look post-Achilles recovery? Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Kobe Bryant cases may provide some insight

Tyrese Haliburton joined an unfortunate list of NBA stars to have suffered one of the worst injuries in sports Sunday night with a torn Achilles tendon that required surgery Monday.

All things considered, it’s one of the most devastating injuries in basketball history. It shifted the trajectory of an NBA Finals Game 7, cut short one of the great individual postseason runs ever seen at its peak and put an immediate damper on the 2025-26 hopes of an emerging Pacers team that had just risen the ranks of Eastern Conference powers.

For Haliburton, the injury stunts the prime of his All-Star career just as he entered it at 25 years old. The good news for Haliburton is there’s recent precedent for All-Star-level players to recover and resume their careers at a high level.

What’s next for Haliburton, Tatum, Lillard?

The focus now shifts to Haliburton’s recovery and the impact of the injury on his long-term prospects. It’s a reality that fellow All-Stars Damian Lillard and Jayson Tatum have faced for weeks since sustaining Achilles tears of their own in the postseason.

Fortunately for all three, Achilles tears aren’t necessarily the career-enders that they were for many in the past as medical advancements in treatment and recovery have improved the outlook of players who sustain them. But they retain the downside of altering the trajectory of basketball careers.

There’s no telling how any of the three will look post-recovery. The best we can do is look at similar injuries to high-level players in recent basketball history. The most notable cases to examine are Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson.

Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant tore his Achilles tendon in April 2013 at the end of the NBA regular season. As a 34-year-old guard at the time of his injury, Bryant’s case is more relevant to Lillard’s than Haliburton’s or Tatum’s.

Bryant was on the backend of his prime as one of the game’s most dominant offensive forces at the time of his injury. He played 78 games in the 2012-13 season prior to his injury and averaged 27.3 points, six assists and 5.6 rebounds per game while exceeding his career shooting percentage (44.7%) with a 46.3% success rate from the field.

This was late-stage Kobe. But it was still prime Kobe. He was named first-team All-NBA and finished fifth in MVP voting that season. He was never the same again.

Kobe Bryant was never again the same player after tearing his Achilles tendon in 2013. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

(Jeff Gross via Getty Images)

Bryant returned to the court the following December, only to suffer a knee fracture in the same left leg that sustained the Achilles tear six games into his comeback. He missed the rest of the 2013-14 season.

He went on to play two more NBA seasons and remained a potent scorer by normal NBA standards. But he was a shell of his former self. Bryant averaged 22.3 points in 35 games in 2014-15, but shot 37.3% from the floor. A rotator cuff injury ended his season in January.

In his final season in 2015-16, Bryant averaged 17.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 35.8% from the field. The combination of age (37) and compounding injuries ultimately compelled the uber-competitive Bryant to hang it up.

Klay Thompson

Thompson’s Achilles tendon injury may be the most unique and difficult of the three to compare. Thompson sustained his injury in November 2021 in a Golden State Warriors scrimmage during his comeback from an ACL tear.

Thompson previously tore the ACL in his left knee during the 2019 NBA Finals between the Warriors and Raptors. He missed the entire 2019-20 season with that injury, then tore the Achilles tendon in his right leg while ramping up for his return.

The Achilles tear cost him a second consecutive full season in 2020-21. He returned for the 2021-22 season at 31 years old and has remarkably remained a productive NBA player since. But he’s not been the same.

Klay Thompson has remained a productive player and was a key contributor to a Warriors championship team since his return from ACL and Achilles injuries. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

(Ezra Shaw via Getty Images)

Thompson was one of basketball’s most lethal and efficient shooters in his pre-injury prime. Since his return, his season-long shooting percentages have ranged from 41.2% to 43.6%, well below his prime shooting rates that hovered between 46.3% and 47%.

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Thompson was also a high-level perimeter defender pre-injury who made an All-Defensive team and earned Defensive Player of the Year votes in two separate seasons. He’s no longer capable of that level of defense and hasn’t made an All-Star team post-injury after making five All-Star teams and two All-NBA teams prior to his injuries.

But he’s remained a high-level scorer and one of the league’s best 3-point shooters. He averaged 20-plus points in each of his first two seasons back and has shot no worse than 38.5% from 3 in his four seasons since. Some projected the combination of injuries to end Thompson’s career, and they’ve done anything but.

Kevin Durant

For many, Durant’s was the first name to come to mind when Haliburton collapsed to the floor Sunday night. We’d seen this before.

Like Haliburton, Durant suffered a strained calf during the playoffs in 2019. Like Haliburton, Durant opted to play through the injury in the NBA Finals with an NBA title at stake. Like Haliburton, Durant collapsed in the NBA Finals with an Achilles tear that threatened to alter the trajectory of his career.

And perhaps even more so than Thompson’s, Durant’s case provides reason for optimism.

Durant was a pending free agent at the time of his injury and didn’t play during the 2019-20 season after signing with the Brooklyn Nets. He returned to the court with the Nets for the 2020-21 season at 32 years old. And it’s difficult to argue that Durant’s missed a beat since.

Kevin Durant has remained an elite offensive force since returning from a torn Achilles tendon that he sustained in the 2019 NBA Finals. (Chris Coduto/Getty Images)

(Chris Coduto via Getty Images)

Durant’s been an All-Star in each of his five seasons since his recovery. He’s made two All-NBA teams and has twice finished in the top 10 in MVP voting. He hasn’t averaged fewer than 26.6 points per game or shot worse than 51.8% from the field or 38.3% from 3 in any of those five seasons.

In short, he’s remained in large part what he always was — one of the game’s all-time elite offensive weapons. That he’s managed to do so on a 6-11 frame on the other side of a significant leg injury in his 30s is nothing short of remarkable.

No two Achilles tears or NBA bodies are the same. Projecting just how Haliburton, Tatum and Lillard will respond post-recovery is guesswork that considers multiple factors including age, playing style and body type.

At 34 years old, Lillard’s recovery projects to look quite different than Haliburton’s at 25. Tatum is closer in time on his basketball journey to Haliburton at 27.

But he’s a 6-foot-8, 210-pound forward. Haliburton’s a 6-foot-5, 185-pound guard. Their positions and playing styles put unique stressors on their Achilles tendons, and their recoveries should not be expected to look the same.

Perhaps the biggest lesson from looking at the past is that none of them should.

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