Tyrese Haliburton took the Indiana Pacers to heights few thought possible after they started this season with a 10-15 record.

Getting back might take some time after team officials confirmed Monday that the two-time All-Star tore his right Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the NBA Finals Sunday, an injury that could cost Haliburton all of next season.

The announcement casts a pall on his historic postseason run, which included a litany of incredible plays, buzzer-beating winners and occasionally unprecedented stat lines, and it helped propel the Pacers to their second NBA Finals appearance and within one victory of the franchise’s first championship.

“An MRI taken on Monday confirmed that Haliburton tore his right Achilles tendon. Surgery is scheduled later today with Dr. Martin O’Malley at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York,” the team said.

Coach Rick Carlisle still believes that when Haliburton heals he will be every bit as good — whenever that may be.

“He will be back,” Carlisle said following the 103-91 loss at Oklahoma City. “I don’t have any medical information about what’s what, what may or may not have happened. But he’ll be back in time, and I believe he’ll make a full recovery.”

A healthy Haliburton certainly makes the Pacers a stronger team. They likely wouldn’t have made it this far without him helping to orchestrate three incredible rallies from seven points down in the final 50 seconds of regulation in three weeks.

But after scoring nine points, all on 3-pointers, in the first seven minutes of the biggest game in franchise history, Haliburton’s crash to the floor and sudden departure created a double whammy for Indiana.

Not only did they lose their leader, but Indiana also fell short in its title chase. Again.

“We just kept battling because we wanted to make Indiana proud, make our fans proud,” three-time All-Star Pascal Siakam said. “We tried our best, but we’ve got to be strong. It’s hard to look forward into the future after you lose like this.”

But everyone else is, and the questions about Haliburton’s playing status could make this offseason murkier than expected for Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard.

OKC’s Game 7 win draws huge ratings >> Oklahoma City’s 103-91 victory over Indiana in Game 7 was the most-watched NBA Finals game in six years.

Sunday night’s game averaged 16.53 million on ABC and ESPN+ according to preliminary ratings data from Nielsen. The audience peaked at 19.28 million during the second half (6:45-7 p.m.)

It is the first time since Toronto wrapped up its title in Game 6 against Golden State in 2019 (18.34 million) that the finals have had an audience over 16 million. The last Game 7, when Cleveland beat Golden State in 2016, averaged 31.02 million.

The seven-game series averaged 10.27 million, down from the 11.31 million average for Boston’s victory over Dallas in five games last year.