Tyrese Haliburton's magical run during the 2025 postseason came to a gutting end as he sustained a torn right Achilles tendon just seven minutes into Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

The Pacers' star went down after opening the biggest game of his career on an absolute tear, draining three triples to score nine of his team's first 16 points. Haliburton's early exit after a torrid start to an NBA Finals game immediately drew parallels to the Achilles injury sustained by Kevin Durant early in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals.

However similar they are in distinction, various physiological factors render no two Achilles injuries alike. And while that again holds here, there are eerily similar circumstances that were uncovered through a comparison.

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Here is how Haliburton and Durant's injuries are similar, and how things differ.

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Tyrese Haliburton vs. Kevin Durant NBA Finals injuries

Perhaps the greatest similarity between Haliburton and Durant is that both sustained right Achilles injuries after battling through strains in their right calves.

Haliburton strained his right calf in Game 5 of the NBA Finals and decided to play through the injury, admitting that it would have held him out for weeks had it occurred during the regular season. Durant, on the other hand, did miss several weeks with a strained right calf sustained in the second round of the 2019 playoffs.

After missing nine games in a month, Durant returned to the floor for an elimination Game 5 as the Warriors faced a 3-1 series deficit. While Haliburton did not rest his calf injury and Durant did so for a month, they suffered similar fates.

Aside from the notion that their calf injuries made them more susceptible to an Achilles rupture, both Durant and Haliburton eerily went down after draining three 3-pointers and shooting 3-of-5 from the field early in an NBA Finals game.

And while the injuries occurred in similar spots after the two made similar movements, there are also major differences.

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It's important to acknowledge that Haliburton is at a much different juncture of his career than Durant was in 2019. Haliburton, 25, has played in just five NBA seasons, while Durant was 30 years old and in his 12th NBA season when he went down.

Physically, Durant's 6-11, 240-pound frame is proportioned differently than Haliburton's 6-5, 185-pound physique, which supports the notion that no two injuries are alike, though they may be similar.

After the injury, Durant missed the entirety of the 2019-20 season and returned to the court at 32. In five seasons since, he has averaged 27.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.2 assists while shooting 53.1 percent from the field and 41.5 percent from 3-point range. His return to All-Star form has been an encouraging development and a ringing endorsement for the technological advances in Achilles repair.

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As Haliburton is five years younger at the time of his injury, there is much more room for optimism in his long-term health and room to take a measured approach to his rehab and recovery. With a recovery timeline of nine to 12 months, there is a world in which Haliburton misses the entirety of the 2025-26 season, but he would still be just 26 years old when returning to the court.

Haliburton is a shifty player, but his game is not reliant on constant athletic bursts. Durant is a 1-of-1, but his recovery could provide a loose blueprint for successful Achilles recovery in the modern day.

If nothing else, the most important parallels from this ordeal would ideally come after Haliburton returns to an All-Star level.