It's Complete Bullshit That After Missing An Entire Season Tyrese Haliburton's Return From Injury Will Happen On The Road In New Orleans

Jesse D. Garrabrant. Getty Images.

With yesterday being Schedule Day in the NBA, it gave fanbases around the league a nice little jolt to get us through the slow period of the NBA calendar, serving as a bit of catnip for the upcoming season. Once you see the schedule, your brain goes to dangerous places, and before you know it, you have your favorite team starting 20-0 or some shit. It's a wonderful exercise for those of us who are starved for basketball to start up again. 

It also presents an opportunity for you to rage about how Adam Silver and the league schedule makers boned your favorite team, and 99% of the time that's not really the case. But when it comes to the Pacers and their schedule? Let's just say there may be something to that idea. Obviously this is a huge bounce-back season for them with Tyrese Haliburton making his return after sitting out all last year with his Achilles injury, and considering he's their franchise player, I feel confident in saying that debut is a pretty big deal. Maybe not to you, but as someone who has experienced their franchise player making his debut following a devastating Achilles injury, I can tell you it is VERY MUCH a big deal to Pacers fans. 

So you know what? Haliburton has every right to be upset about how the NBA handled his return

I'm sorry, but that's bullshit. I get not putting the Pacers on National TV, that's mostly whatever. I do think there's a bit of an overreaction when it comes to how people view the Pacers given their entire team got hurt last year, and with normal health I see no reason why they shouldn't be back to being one of the better teams in the East. Having said that, not putting Haliburton's debut on National TV is fine.

But….having it be on the road? Come on. That's insane. Obviously Tatum got to choose his return when he came back last year so that's a little different, but when I look at the Blazers' schedule (Damian Lillard's return after sitting a year with the same injury), their first game is at home against PHX. It's not on National TV, but at least it's happening in front of Blazers fans so Dame can get the welcome he deserves.

So the fact that the NBA put the Pacers on the road for Haliburton's return is a gigantic slap in the face not just to him, but also Pacers fans. You may think 

"whatever, it's just one game and they are right back at home for Game 2"

but that's not the point, and frankly, if you feel that way, it tells me you probably don't know what it feels like to be without your franchise player for an entire year after he suffered a devastating injury that just so happened to take place in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. When that shit happens to your favorite team, the wait for the return is BRUTAL. All you want to do is see your guy back on the floor again, and there's truly nothing like the moment when that return finally happens. I'll never forget what it was like to watch Tatum's return on March 6th

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Outside of seeing him win the title, that was probably the most emotional I've ever been watching Tatum play basketball. To rob Pacers fans of that as we kick off a new season is crazy. Again, it doesn't have to be on ESPN, it doesn't even have to come against a good team, but it absolutely should have happened with a Pacers home game. The fan reaction and ovation and all that will still happen in Game 2, but it's not the same.

So I stand with Haliburton. It is bullshit. There's no logical reason to do something like that outside of just not giving a shit about the Pacers or their fans, which is lame. It's not as if the injury came out of nowhere, so there's really no excuse. I do think because he missed the year, a lot of people (and clearly the schedule makers) have forgotten just how good Haliburton is, which is a shame because he's one of the more electric players we have in the league at the moment, and I can't wait to see him back in action.