Austin Rivers Says NBA Needs to ‘Adjust Something’ After Tyrese Haliburton Achilles Injury

Austin Rivers is arguing that the NBA needs to make changes after Tyrese Haliburton became the latest star player to suffer a torn Achilles tendon during Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals on Sunday (June 22).

“We have to change something. This injury is coming around too frequent,” Rivers said in a video posted to X on Monday. “We have too many stars going down. They said seven to eight guys went down this year. I say stars because it’s mainly due to guys who are logging the most minutes are suffering this tragic injury.”

Haliburton, Jayson Tatum, Damian Lillard, Dejounte Murray, James Wiseman, Isaiah Jackson, and Dru Smith are the seven NBA players who suffered a torn Achilles during the 2024-25 season.

Tatum logged the 13th-most minutes (2,624) in the regular season, while Haliburton was 30th with 2,451. Lillard, who missed 14 games due to deep vein thrombosis in his right calf, was 77th with 2,093.

Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart of the New York Knicks finished first (3,036) and second (2,897), respectively, in total minutes played.

Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle utilized his bench players as much as any NBA team this season in an effort to maximize their up-tempo style of play for an entire 48-minute game.

While total minutes played over the course of an NBA season may contribute to the apparent rise in Achilles injuries in the league, Rivers said that modern gameplay is simply faster than what it was decades ago, referring to it as a “non-stop, track meet of a game.”

The Pacers, who had Haliburton, Wiseman, and Jackson suffer the same torn Achilles injury this year, played at the 11th-fastest pace in the regular season, and seemingly ramped up that approach throughout their playoff run.

“With the progression of the game, if all these other things have changed, eventually we’re going to have to start to look at our game itself, and alter things because we can’t keep losing these stars,” Rivers said. “And it’s gonna continue to be stars ‘cause these are the guys logging most of the minutes. These guys are playing 40 minutes per game.”

Rivers rattled off several possible alterations, including shortening the regular season schedule from 82 to 65 games, reducing the time of a game from 48 to 40 minutes, or limiting the best-of-seven series to the NBA Finals.

“I don’t know what it is, but I can tell you, the progression of our game has only put our players in a vulnerable spot to where they are suffering this injury,” Rivers continued. “This isn’t a coincidence, guys. We had three stars in one postseason go down with an Achilles tendon tear.”

“The pace of the game has been great for money,” Rivers said. “The evolution of the game has been great for the sport. A lot of action. A lot of highlights. But it has come at a cost, and when losing our players, we have to adjust something here.”

Rivers said a torn Achilles tendon is “a brutal and probably, the most horrific injury a player can have on the court as a basketball player,” citing the recovery timetable and the uncertainty of returning to their form, prior to the injury.

According to ESPN’s Stephania Bell, the recovery period for an NBA player is, on average, 10 months. The probability of a return to form is taken on a case-by-case basis.

“Basketball is heavily underestimated, in terms of how grueling it is on our bodies," River said in the video. "We go out there and put shorts and a jersey on, put our shoes on, and go out there and play both sides of the ball, and now with how fast this game is, and how these guys are cutting and moving, this will continue to happen to our stars. I’m a little worried.”