For the first time in 486 days, Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton played in a meaningful basketball game. And he returned with a bang. The Indiana Pacers opened the 2026-2027 season in New Orleans on Wednesday night. After a lousy second quarter put the Pacers in a hole, the road team rallied from a double-digit deficit and came away victorious, defeating the Pelicans by a final score of 123-120. Here are my three takeaways from the opener.

Vintage Haliburton in his return.

Tyrese Haliburton's first shot and first bucket came a little over 2 minutes into the game, and it also gave the Pacers their first lead of the night. Overall, it was vintage Haliburton in his return as the point guard put together a 23 point, 12 assist night. Not only that, Indy's star made some of the game's biggest plays down the stretch, with multiple buckets in the closing minutes.…