On July 28, the Indiana Pacers star announced that he proposed to his college sweetheart, Jade Jones, on the basketball court at Iowa State University — their shared alma mater. "The place where our story started, and where our next chapter begins," Haliburton wrote on Instagram alongside photos of the proposal.

Haliburton was just one game from bringing the Pacers their first NBA championship, and first title since the team was part of the ABA, where they won a ring in 1970, 1972, and 1973. However, a nagging calf injury turned severely worse in game seven and was confirmed to be a torn Achilles.

Haliburton, 25, led the Pacers to the NBA Finals this past season, though he tore his Achilles in Game 7 against the Oklahoma City Thunder and will miss the entire 2025-26 campaign. He was one of several star players to suffer that injury in recent months, with Jayson Tatum and Damian Lillard among them.