Sports Poets Society

GRACE SMITH/INDYSTAR -  Fans react to Indiana Pacers guard  Tyrese Haliburton going down with an injury on June 22. Pacers could taste title. Now, we’re all sick to our stomachs  25 Jun 2025 - The Indianapolis Star USA TODAY NETWORK Gregg Doyel Columnist   OKLAHOMA CITY – The locker isn’t empty, but almost. A small bag of chips on the cabinet, unopened. A few hangers on the overhead bar, empty. A rolling piece of black luggage nearby, zipped up and ready to go. If it belongs to Tyrese Haliburton — and this was his spot in the visitors’ locker room Sunday at Paycom Center, site of Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals — someone else will need to grab it. Haliburton left the locker room with his hands full. You know. The crutches. Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers are the talk of the NBA today, not the Oklahoma City Thunder, and that’s not the way these things normally go. Normally we celebrate our winners. The team that didn’t win — I’m not calling anyone in this series ...

GREGORY SHAMUS/GETTY IMAGES Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner reacts against the New York Knicks during the fourth  quarter in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on May 25. What re-signing center Myles Turner could mean for the Pacers and the rest of their roster for ’26 12 Jun 2025 - The Indianapolis Star Pacers Insider Dustin Dopirak  Indianapolis Star USA TODAY NETWORK INDIANAPOLIS – Whether the Pacers’ magical postseason run ends in either victory or defeat in the NBA Finals, they’ll immediately find themselves on the clock as soon as it ends with a window to negotiate with their starting center and longest-tenured player. The day after the Finals, teams can begin negotiating with players who finished the season on their roster that are entering free agency. They can’t begin negotiating with free agents who began the season on other teams until 6 p.m., June 30 when the NBA calendar flips over. In the Pacers’ case this season, that means they’...