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
Angels reinstate LHP Drew Pomeranz from injured list
May 12, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Los Angeles Angels relief pitcher Drew Pomeranz (13) delivers a pitch in the seventh inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images The Los Angeles Angels reinstated left-hander Drew Pomeranz from the 15-day injured list on Thursday.
The 37-year-old reliever landed on the IL on May 13 with inflammation in his pitching elbow.
Pomeranz is 0-3 with a 7.20 ERA, eight walks and 12 strikeouts in 15 innings in his first season with the Angels.
He is 50-63 with 10 saves, a 3.87 ERA in 363 career games (144 starts) with eight teams since debuting in 2011.
The Angels optioned left-hander Tayler Saucedo to Triple-A Salt Lake in a corresponding move Wednesday night.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Tigers place closer Kenley Jansen on 15-day IL
Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenley Jansen (74) talks to manager A.J. Hinch (14), left, and assistant athletic trainer Chris McDonald during the ninth inning against Los Angeles Angels at Comerica Park in Detroit on Wednesday, May 27, 2026. The Detroit Tigers placed four-time All-Star closer Kenley Jansen on the 15-day injured list Thursday with pelvic inflammation.
Jansen, who worked through a right groin issue earlier in the season, exited Detroit’s 4-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday after nine pitches in the ninth inning. The right-hander called for the trainers after walking Mike Trout on four pitches.
Jansen, 38, is 1-3 with seven saves and a 4.80 ERA in 18 relief appearances since signing a one-year, $11 million contract with the Tigers in December.
He ranks third in major league history with 483 career saves.
Jansen spent his first 12 seasons (2010-21) with the Los Angeles Dodgers and is 55-43 with a 2.61 ERA in 951 relief appearances. He also pitched for the Atlanta Braves (2022), Boston Red Sox (2023-24) and Angels (2025).
Left-hander Drew Sommers was recalled from Triple-A Toledo in a corresponding move.
“In the short-term, a bullpen move is the most obvious because of the availability of the ‘pen,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’re trying to have as full a team as we can.”
Sommers, 25, is 1-0 with one save and a 3.00 ERA in 17 relief appearances this season with the Mud Hens.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Reports: Dodgers to put Teoscar Hernandez on IL, recall Ryan Ward
May 23, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernandez (37) during the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images The Los Angeles Dodgers will place outfielder Teoscar Hernandez on the injured list with a left hamstring strain and recall infielder/outfielder Ryan Ward from Triple-A Oklahoma City, multiple outlets reported Thursday.
Hernandez was injured Wednesday while running out a ground ball in the second inning against the Colorado Rockies.
The Dodgers are expected to use a platoon in left field moving forward between the left-handed hitting Ward and the right-handed Alex Call. Utility man Hyeseong Kim replaced Hernandez in left field Wednesday.
Hernandez, 33, is batting .276 with seven home runs and 31 RBIs in 51 games this season and was particularly hot of late, batting .375 with three home runs over his past 14 games.
The two-time All-Star is a career .261 hitter with 224 home runs and 692 RBIs in 1,150 career games over 11 seasons with the Houston Astros (2016-17), Toronto Blue Jays (2017-22), Seattle Mariners (2023) and Dodgers.
Ward, 28, made his major league debut in April and went 2-for-6 over two games while Freddie Freeman was on the paternity list.
The former eighth-round draft pick is batting .254 with six home runs and 31 RBIs in 47 games at Triple-A, after hitting 36 home runs with 122 RBIs with Oklahoma City last season. Ward has 156 home runs over seven minor league seasons.
–Field Level Media
Angels reinstate LHP Drew Pomeranz from injured list
Tigers place closer Kenley Jansen on 15-day IL
