Kevin Durant, a perennial NBA All-Star forward who was playing for the Golden State Warriors at the time, entered an elimination game in the 2019 championship series with a strained right calf muscle. Last weekend, star point guard Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers found himself in the same situation in this year’s NBA Finals.
Each wound up leaving early with a torn right Achilles tendon.
Durant, the 2014 NBA MVP, missed the entire 2019-20 season as he recovered from the injury. And now Haliburton, an NBA All-Star the past two seasons, could face a similar fate in losing the 2025-26 season.
Predictable? Perhaps. Both knew the risks when they opted to chase a championship, and both wound up paying the price when their tendons gave out on pro basketball’s biggest stage.
“There’s no question you’re at a higher risk of worsening an injury or another injury occurring because maybe your gait is off a little bit or the muscle firing isn’t as good,” said Dr. Kevin Farmer, an orthopedic surgeon and the chief of sports medicine at the University of Florida. “To Tyrese’s credit, maybe he wasn’t as healthy as he wanted to be, but he was willing to go out there and try to perform to win that championship for the team.