The 25-year-old fell to the court without any contact as he attempted to drive to the basket seven minutes into the first quarter of the decisive game seven of the NBA Championship play-off finals at the Oklahoma City Thunder.

He was in obvious distress as he was helped from the court and missed the rest of the game, which his side lost 103-91 to end their hopes of a first NBA title.

The Pacers confirmed he would have surgery on Monday on the injury, which has a likely recovery time of eight to 10 months.

The two-time All Star is the third high-profile player to suffer a ruptured Achilles tendon in this season’s play-offs, following Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard.

The injury is similar to one that kept Kevin Durant out for a full season when he was hurt in the 2019 NBA Finals while playing for the Golden State Warriors.

Haliburton had played in Sunday’s decider despite suffering a calf strain in game five of the finals.

It followed an amazing run where he hit a tying or winning shot in the final seconds in all four rounds of the play-offs.

“I’d do it again, and again after that, to fight for this city and my brothers,” he posted on X after the surgery. “For the chance to do something special.

“Words cannot express the pain of this letdown. The frustration is unfathomable. I’ve worked my whole life to get to this moment and this is how it ends?”

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle paid tribute to Haliburton after Sunday’s game.

“What happened with Tyrese, all of our hearts dropped,” he said. “But he will be back in time, and I believe he’ll make a full recovery.”

His 21-foot shot put the Pacers in front for the first time in the match, with 0.3 seconds remaining as they secured a 111-110 win.

The Thunder, with home court advantage for the first two games, had led by 15 points during the fourth quarter, and in the closing seconds the ball was in the hands of NBA most valuable player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

However, he missed a two-point attempt with 12 seconds remaining and the Pacers grabbed the rebound, passed the ball to Haliburton and he drove down the court before hitting the winning points.

It’s the fourth time in the 2025 play-offs that the 25-year-old has recorded a big-time score – three times to win a match and once to force overtime.

Indiana won despite turning the ball over 25 times, with 20 of those coming in the first half.

“It’s not the recipe to win,” Haliburton said.

“We can’t turn the ball over that much. (But) come May and June, it doesn’t matter how you get them, just get them.”

Team-mate Myles Turner said of Haliburton: “Some players will say they have it, but there are other players that show it. He wants to be the one to hit that shot. He doesn’t shy away from that moment.”

Gilgeous-Alexander was the game’s leading scorer with 38 points, while Pascal Siakam top scored for the Pacers with 19 points, followed by Obi Toppin with 17.

“We played like we were trying to keep the lead instead of trying to extend it or be aggressive,” said the Thunder’s Jalen Williams.

Game two of the best-of-seven series is also in Oklahoma and will start at 19:00 local time on Sunday, 8 June (01:00 BST on Monday).