Why Was Tyrese Haliburton Traded From Kings to Pacers? Truth Behind Sacramento’s Questionable Decision

We’re all witnessing the rise of Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers unfold right before our eyes. First, there was the iconic homage to Reggie Miller at Madison Square Garden in Game 1 against the Knicks. Then the zero-turnover triple-double performance in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. And then, of course, there’s Thursday’s buzzer-beater shot that Haliburton hit with just 0.3 seconds remaining on the clock. A shot that silenced one of the loudest fan bases in the entire league. While many might notice Tyrese Haliburton’s leap in Indy colors, he made his bones elsewhere.

Of course, we’re talking about his time in Sac-Town. Tyrese Haliburton’s journey in the league started in Sacramento as the Kings picked him 12th overall in the NBA draft. The young guard showed a lot of potential in his first couple of seasons in the league, winning several accolades. However, the franchise surprisingly decided to part ways with him back in 2022. This raised a lot of eyebrows, and many still wonder why the Kings made the move. So, what led them to trade away a budding superstar?

What led the Kings to trade Tyrese Haliburton despite his rising potential?

If you’re not aware, back in 2022, when the Sacramento Kings decided to trade away Haliburton out of nowhere, the rest of the league was left stunned. Well, not exactly Luka Doncic to the Lakers level stunned, but it was still a pretty huge deal. Even ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said that, just like the Doncic deal, multiple teams would have been “knocking at the door” if they knew the young point guard was up on the table. That’s true! If you’re not aware, Haliburton had a great start to life in the NBA and looked destined for greatness.

He made his debut against the Nuggets, scoring 12 points, four assists, and two rebounds in an overtime 124-122 win. After that stellar debut, Haliburton never looked back! The point guard finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting and made it to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. He took things up a notch in his sophomore season. However, despite a lively start to his professional career, the Kings failed to see his true potential. Or should we say they had a bit of a point guard problem? Yes, the Kings were spoiled for choice in the point guard department.

Feb 25, 2021; New York, New York, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) shoots against New York Knicks guard Frank Ntilikina (11) in the first half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: John Minchillo/POOL PHOTOS-USA TODAY Sports

Sacramento already possessed one of the best young point guards in the league, De’Aaron Fox, even before drafting Haliburton. Then there was Davion Mitchell, another talented guard, to further limit Tyrese Haliburton’s gametime. Of course, this played a huge role in the team’s front office deciding to trade away the young guard. However, this wasn’t all! Before the 2022 season, the Kings were in a precarious position as they failed to make the playoffs for the 18th time in 19 seasons.

So, they did what any other desperate team would. You guessed it! They were more focused on “win-now” moves to end the playoff drought as soon as possible. However, that did not come without a cost. They had to make the most of the assets available to them, including trading away a young Tyrese Haliburton to Indiana. This move also made sense from the franchise’s perspective, due to him being on a rookie scale contract, making him a more desirable player to dish out instead of Fox, who had just inked a $163 million five-year deal.

Well, you could say they got their wish granted with Domantas Sabonis arriving in Sacramento. But why did they choose to build around Sabonis and not Haliburton?

Why did the Kings choose Domantas Sabonis over building around Haliburton and Fox?

Imagine you’re the owner of an NBA franchise that is facing the longest playoff drought in North American professional sports. What would you do to make things better? A rebuild? Or nurture talent? Most of us would scrap it all and start a rebuild, right? In 2022, the Sacramento Kings faced a similar dilemma, and what did their owner, Vivek Ranadive, do? He was hesitant about a full rebuild and instead opted for the easy way out by picking either De’Aaron Fox or Tyrese Haliburton.

But why? Well, it was quite visible that the team had more point guards with similar skillsets. So, it only made sense to trade one of them to acquire depth at other positions.

While Fox, Haliburton, and Mitchell were all fighting for the starting spot, the team was running thin on the center position with no reliable option outside of Richaun Holmes. Of course, this meant one of the guards had to be cut loose to acquire more depth on the roster. So, Haliburton, given that he was Sac-Town’s best bet to land a starting center, was traded away. In return, the Kings received Sabonis, who filled the team’s void at the big man position. There’s no doubt he was well suited for Mike Brown’s fast-paced system, with Sabonis being an elite rebounder. This helped the Kings, as Sabonis was able to team up with Fox to break the team’s playoff drought.

Yes, this deal paid off, at least in the short term, as Sabonis helped the team break a 16-year playoff drought. The Kings’ center also earned All-NBA honors while dominating oppositions. This deal also made sense given Tyrese Haliburton and De’Aaron Fox share a similar skillset.  Both are distributing point guards who find space in the opposition’s defense. However, the Kings needed someone to spearhead their opposition, which they tried to find in Sabonis. But, couldn’t they have achieved that with the duo of Fox and Haliburton?

Why couldn’t Haliburton and Fox coexist in Sacramento’s backcourt?

Seeing Tyrese Haliburton find his true ceiling with the Indiana Pacers, it’s hard to resist what if he and De’Aaron Fox remained together for a bit longer? Could they have achieved something great? Why did the Kings break up this All-Star-level backcourt duo? Well, we might never know. That’s because even Tyrese Haliburton’s arrival in Sacramento was a bit of a surprise. How? Well, back in 2020, no one expected Tyrese Haliburton to fall to the 12th pick, not even the Kings. The Iowa State point guard was tipped to be a top-ten pick. However, things took an interesting turn when he wasn’t picked up until the 12th pick.

May 11, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) dribbles the ball during game four of the second round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Despite the Kings needing a big man and wings, they decided to pick the best player on the board and landed Haliburton. Soon, it became apparent that the point guard was one of the better players of his draft class. But that did not mean it made Sacramento a better team. On the contrary, it created more problems for the franchise. Now, the Kings needed to find a way to make the most of both guards, something which wasn’t easy given their similar play styles. Of course, being point guards, both players needed to be primary ball handlers. On top of that, Fox excelled at isolations and midrange shots.

Meanwhile, Haliburton was an excellent passer of the ball. So, having both on the court was a recipe for disaster. In fact, it was for two years. Together, the two posted a negative rating of -4.7 in the 2020-21 season. While this alone was terrible, it got worse in the following season, as the duo posted a devastating -5.3 rating in 853 minutes on game time together. What made it even worse was the fact that, when Haliburton was given full control seemed to perform just fine.

This further hinted that the franchise to choose either Fox or Haliburton as the cornerstone of Sacramento, a choice that doesn’t look good in hindsight.

 

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