The hierarchy of the top NBA point guards could have a completely different look with the return of Tyrese Haliburton from a season-long injury. For over a year, basketball fans and analysts have debated where the Pacers’ floor general truly sits among elite lead guards.
Cade Cunningham, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Steph Curry are all making a bid to be the best at the position. Now that his long recovery is complete, the question of Haliburton’s standing across the basketball landscape is about to receive an emphatic answer.
The Case For The Top Tier
To understand why Haliburton belongs in the top tier of NBA playmakers, one only needs to look at what he accomplished when fully healthy. During his stellar 2024-25 campaign, Haliburton earned All-NBA Third Team honors while establishing himself as one of the most efficient decision-makers in modern basketball history. His biggest calling card was the ability to create scoring opportunities for his teammates (career 8.8 assists per game).
What made Haliburton’s numbers so remarkable wasn’t just the surface production, but the surgical precision behind it. He orchestrated the fastest, most relentless offense in the league while maintaining an exceptional assist-to-turnover ratio of 4:1. He rarely wasted possessions, never hunted for empty stats, and consistently leveraged his elite court vision to collapse opposing defenses.
Haliburton also proved that his playmaking translates to winning at the highest possible level. He carried Indiana all the way to Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals. His late-game shot-making and steady floor leadership turned the Pacers into genuine title contenders. He is a rare 20-point, 10-assist scoring threat, demonstrating he could score efficiently without sacrificing his role as a distributor. His career 39.2% three-point percentage is also impressive given the volume of shots he attempted.
The True Cost Of Losing Their Engine
The absence of Haliburton only demonstrated how essential he was to Indiana’s entire system. Pushing through a lingering calf strain to give everything to his franchise on the sport’s biggest stage, Haliburton tore his right Achilles tendon seven minutes into Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals. Without their superstar engine orchestrating on the floor during the subsequent season, the Pacers cratered.
Indiana finished with a dismal 19-63 record, which was the worst single-season mark in franchise history. While secondary injuries impacted depth across the roster, dropping from Game 7 of the Finals to the bottom of the standings demonstrated the massive on/off differential Haliburton creates. Few players in the entire league dictate their team’s baseline success quite like him.
The Road Back Wasn’t Clean
Rehabilitating a torn Achilles tendon is never an easy journey, and Haliburton’s road to recovery was a long one. In the summer, he was remarkably candid about the mental and physical demands of his comeback. He openly noted that being in general athletic shape is entirely different from being in “Tyrese Haliburton shape”, a condition that requires blistering transition speed, lateral twitch, and non-stop stamina.
This is important as the Pacers were top 10 in pace in each of the 3 seasons Haliburton ran the offense. Rather than selling an effortless fairy-tale return, he acknowledged the hard work required to rebuild the explosive first step that his game relies on. Haliburton has openly discussed how the psychological burden often outweighed the physical. He noted that his foot felt like “dead weight” post-surgery and that the mental rehab process was exhausting.
Proving It Again, One Possession At A Time
At the Pacers’ media day, Haliburton said he’s 100% healthy and will have no restrictions. Head coach Rick Carlisle was a little more careful, saying that the staff would manage the pace, though he doesn’t expect much in the way of limitations.
The top tier point guard ranking isn’t handed out in press conferences, though. It gets settled in November, when players are attacking a closeout, throwing a lead pass in transition, and showing whether their first step still has its snap. Achilles injuries take burst, and that burst is part of what makes Haliburton special, although his game has always leaned more on timing and vision. Can he earn his way back to the top spot of the NBA’s point guard hierarchy?
