Sports
Why the Pacers Could Be Back in the NBA Finals Sooner Than Expected
May 31, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) and guard Andrew Nembhard (2) speak in the second quarter during game six of the eastern conference finals against the New York Knicks for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images For all the what-ifs to rattle Indiana Pacers fans over the past 11 months, here’s hoping they’ve done enough math to know that the associative property isn’t always elementary in the Association.
Neither is sustained health.
Even so, the coming months offer an oxymoron for Pacers faithful. Call it cruel optimism.
Fans know their team eliminated the newly crowned Eastern Conference champion New York Knicks and latest Knick doormat Cleveland Cavaliers en route to winning the East last season. If defending NBA champion Oklahoma City defeats San Antonio to win the West, they’ll surely stew anew about the Tyrese Haliburton Achilles injury and Game 7 loss to OKC in the 2025 Finals.
In the name of exorcising demons instead of exercising them, though, let’s direct Pacers fans to Haliburton’s X account. Recent footage suggests far more optimism than cruelty.
Two words – “Week 48” – introduce video of Hailburton looking sharp during a workout at the Pacers’ practice facility. See the two-time All-Star point guard run, cut, dribble, shoot and step back – all just shy of one year since sustaining a torn right Achilles tendon in the opening minutes of Finals Game 7 against the Thunder.
The video also shows Haliburton has made time for the weight room when not scrimmaging. He’s also still able to smile.
Haliburton posted on Tuesday, some five months before the 2026-27 season tips off. There’s musical accompaniment, of course; not “High Hopes” by Frank Sinatra, but Drake’s “Janice STFU.”
Sample lyrics of the SFW variety: “They tried to kill me once, but darling, you just resurrected me.”
Talk about confirming motivational buy-in from your star.
Haliburton said this month he expects to be a “full go” for the Pacers’ summer minicamp. Without a selection in the June draft, that gathering figures to be an encouraging reunion for a team whose health woes last season weren’t merely limited to the devastating June blow to “Hali.”
Coach Rick Carlisle dialed up nearly 50 starting lineups in 2025-26, as Pascal Siakam (62 starts) and Andrew Nembhard (57) were the equivalent of the team’s iron men. Meanwhile, center Ivica Zubac played in just six games after arriving in a February trade from the Los Angeles Clippers. Then a rib injury ended his season.
For Pacers fans leery to lean into the “What’s old is new again” motif so early – hey, it’s what they’ve got – the Haliburton video has a cousin.
How about this recent send-up of Carlisle from new Butler coach and former Pacers assistant Ronald Nored?
“He’s never stopped adjusting. He coached one way several years ago, and he was a Hall of Fame coach. And he coaches a completely different way now,” Nored told the Indianapolis Star. “To watch him and see he has progressed in his long career, continuing to want new ideas, understanding where the game is going next, was something that was really important for me to learn.”
Carlisle’s latest handiwork will be on display soon enough, as Haliburton works in with Zubac while the team touts the center it has lacked since Myles Turner left in free agency last summer.
What if next season’s Pacers jell early and stay cohesive? It’s fair to wonder.
A fan base that endured 25 years between Finals appearances to start the millennium may now only have to wait one more.
Sports
Brazil's Neymar (calf) may miss World Cup opener
Neymar in Santos’ match against Cruzeiro at Estadio Urbano Caldeira, Santos, Brazil, on Dec. 7, 2025. Neymar is expected to be sidelined up to three weeks with a right calf injury, putting his availability in doubt for Brazil’s opening match of the World Cup.
The forward has been out of action since May 17. Brazil’s World Cup opening match is against Morocco on June 13 in East Rutherford, N.J.
“He arrived at Granja Comary (Wednesday), underwent a full medical examination, which included an MRI scan that revealed a Grade 2 calf injury, not just swelling,” Brazil national team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said on Thursday. “He is expected to be fit to play in two to three weeks.”
Neymar, who is Brazil’s all-time leading scorer with 79 goals, rejoined his boyhood club Santos last year after a stay with Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal.
Neymar, 34, has collected eight goals through his three World Cups (2014, 2018, 2022) and will try to guide the Selecao to their first title since 2002.
Drawn into Group C, Brazil also will face Haiti on June 20 and Scotland on June 24.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Jets first-round TE Kenyon Sadiq out weeks after hernia surgery
Apr 23, 2026; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Oregon Ducks tight end Kenyon Sadiq is selected by the New York Jets as the number 16 pick during the 2026 NFL Draft at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Jets tight end Kenyon Sadiq underwent surgery to repair a hernia and is out several weeks.
Head coach Aaron Glenn said Thursday that Sadiq should be back on the field at some point during training camp, which opens in eight weeks (July 28).
The 16th overall pick is expected to have a significant role in the Jets’ retooled offense.
“It’s something that he dealt with,” Glenn said, detailing the injury history the team had knowledge of prior to the 2025 college football season. “And we knew about it going into his last year of college, and he dealt with it during rookie minicamp.”
Health was not a major deterrent for Sadiq last season when he had eight TD catches and 51 receptions at Oregon. He solidified his pre-draft standing with a freakish workout at the NFL Scouting Combine. He was clocked at a position-record 4.39 seconds in the 40-yard dash, eclipsing the recognized fastest time by a tight end held by Maryland product Vernon Davis. He ran a 4.40 in 2006.
The Jets doubled down on receivers in the first round in April, selecting wide receiver Omar Cooper 30th overall following a trade up with the San Francisco 49ers.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Lynx sign C Teaira McCowan, add depth to frontcourt
Jul 25, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Dallas Wings center Teaira McCowan (15) warms up before a game against the Golden State Valkyries at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-Imagn Images The Minnesota Lynx signed center Teaira McCowan to a contract on Thursday.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the Lynx.
McCowan, 29, came off the bench in 17 games last season with the Dallas Wings, averaging 5.6 points and 4.6 rebounds. She was waived by Dallas last August shortly after the Lynx acquired DiJonai Carrington from the Wings.
Listed at 6-foot-7, McCowan has averaged 10.7 points and 8.1 boards in 207 career games (131 starts) with the Indiana Fever (2019-21) and Wings. She was selected by the Fever with the third overall pick of the 2019 WNBA Draft.
–Field Level Media
Brazil's Neymar (calf) may miss World Cup opener
The Ninja Creami Scoop & Swirl is even better and more fun than the original Creami — but are we still using it a year later?
