Nothing can change a franchise’s trajectory more than a season ending achilles injury for your star player, and for Celtics star Jayson Tatum, and Pacers star Tyreese Haliburton, this is the reality. To terrible injuries which take months to heal mean their teams can drastically go from hero to zero. The Pacers may even struggle to find the postseason without Haliburton, and the Celtics already look all in on a gap year, but here is exactly what we can expect from the Celtics and the Pacers next season.
The Celtics were not able to defend their NBA championship last season after Jayson Tatum suffered a torn achilles during their playoff series against New York, but it was game 7 of the NBA finals in which Tyreese Haliburton went down with the same injury. Ever since the two teams have geared up for a year out, and are taking a year to get back to full strengths, and a number of roster moves have already highlighted this.
Not long after the finals, long time veteran Myles Turner signed a four year, $109 million deal with the Milwaukee Bucks, putting an end to his tenure as a Pacer. Over in Boston, they traded defensive beast Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trailblazers in return for Anfernee Simmons as a replacement for Tatum, and also traded Kristaps Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks, shaking up the roster a lot, readying a bolster to the offense in 2026.
It is hard to say what kind of effect the injuries will have on the two teams, but it is for sure that the 2025/26 season will be a blip for both, and once their stars are back, everything will be back to normal. The amazing seasons they both had last year could never be replicated without the star power that Haliburton and Tatum bring to the teams, and fans need to be prepared for big changes, and some big declines.
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