Like Haliburton himself, I was stunned when the trade went down in February 2022. Along with most of the NBA world, I had a hard time making sense of why the General Manager of the Sacramento Kings, Monte McNair, thought the trade was a good idea. And if you’re not a Kings fan, you might not fully appreciate all the reasons for why so many of us were so upset by the Haliburton-Sabonis trade. So, allow me to explain why my feelings about this monumental trade have been such a rollercoaster ride: from outrage and disbelief to euphoric relief and now back to unsettling nausea.

Don’t get me wrong—there’s still a lot to feel good about. The Kings have enjoyed a lot of success of their own during the past couple of seasons, and Domantas Sabonis is a huge reason for that turnaround. But after seeing how spectacular In-Season Tournament Tyrese Haliburton was, and seeing the rest of the world watch that all unfolding on national TV, it’s hard not to feel like the Kings’ front office may have made a horrible mistake…again.

Monte McNair’s First-Born Son

Tyrese Haliburton was selected by the Sacramento Kings with the 12th overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft. As the Kings’ first pick in that draft, it was also the first draft pick for new GM Monte McNair. The Kings were in poor shape as an organization at that point (hence the front-office change), but getting Haliburton gave the fanbase a real glimmer of hope.

Back then, nobody could have foreseen the full extent of Tyrese’s present-day blossoming, but he was a very highly touted prospect. He was considered by many to be the steal of the draft, having fallen much lower than expected. Many media outlets rated it as an A or A+ pick by the Kings and the only question was, “How will he coexist with the Kings’ star point guard De’Aaron Fox ?” But after passing on Luka Doncic in the 2018 draft, picking Marvin Bagley instead, the Kings were done with drafting for positional fit—they decided to take the best player on the board, even though he played the same position as their current best player.

Indeed, the question of team fit was never fully resolved, right up until the point of the Haliburton-Sabonis trade. Some nights, Haliburton and Fox seemed like the perfect duo, and other nights, they seemed to only be getting in each other’s way. In any case, it was clear that Fox was not having a good time. You could see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice, whether he was on the court or on the bench or in the interview chair. Sure, the team’s losing record had a lot to do with that, but it definitely seemed like part of it was also due to dissatisfaction with having to share the ball with Tyrese.

The Hali-Fox Experiment

In contrast, Haliburton was full of life. He had his moments of frustration following losses, but that’s the thing—it was frustration, not the silent dejectedness that Fox was showing. Tyrese wanted to be a King, he wanted to win, and he showed that fire of determination every single day. Fox, most of the time, seemed like he had just given up hope and didn’t really want to be there anymore. This is why Tyrese so quickly became a fan favorite and why Kings fans were so distraught when he was traded. We looked at him and saw hope, potential, vigor, and joy. We looked at Fox and saw yet another victim swallowed by the void of despair that persisted for the 16-year-long playoff drought. It was the same sense of despair that prompted Rudy Gay to reportedly tell George Karl, “welcome to basketball hell” when he was hired as Head Coach in 2015.

This was also why Haliburton himself felt so angry, stunned, and betrayed when traded by the organization he had embraced so unconditionally. He was very transparent about these feelings, sharing his thoughts following the trade on J.J. Redick’s popular podcast, The Old Man and the Three. Kings fans, meanwhile, were left wondering, “How could Monte sacrifice his first-born son?”

It was a question fueled by more than just emotional attachments. At the time, Fox was the better player on paper, but Haliburton was still just a rookie and he showed tremendous promise. With Fox, on the other hand, it still wasn’t clear whether he was capable of taking another big leap forward by improving his shooting, or if he had just kind of plateaued below the All-Star threshold. There was reason to believe at the time just before the trade that Haliburton could surpass Fox within a few seasons. Perhaps that explains why Monte had to give up Tyrese: The Pacers, among other potential suitors, probably sensed the same thing.

That really is the big question that we may never fully have the answer to: did Monte believe it was better to keep Fox over Haliburton, or was he forced against his wishes to keep Fox instead in order to get the player he thought the team needed? And that’s one reason why it’s still hard for me to decide how I feel about the Haliburton-Sabonis trade—the question of whether the Kings should have traded Fox for Sabonis instead of Haliburton depends on whether that was even an option. And we just don’t know.

The One That Got Away

Fast-forwarding to the present day, the refrain you will hear over and over again from just about every NBA analyst and TV commentator is, “This was one of those rare trades where both teams won.” And yes, for a while I felt that way, too. In many ways, I still do. Both teams had a critical redundancy that was holding their best player back: Fox was looking handicapped by the presence of Tyrese in the backcourt, and the Pacers’ star centers Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner just could not coexist.

On the Kings, Sabonis has become a crucial hub of Coach Mike Brown’s offense, unleashing the full potential not only of De’Aaron Fox but of the team’s other guards, too, like Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk, as well as sophomore rising star Keegan Murray. For the Pacers, Myles Turner is back to doing what he does best: protecting the rim and blocking shots on a team that needs all the defensive help it can get. And, of course, Tyrese is grooving with 40-point and 15-assist performances left and right. The Kings got the piece they needed to push a struggling but talented team over the edge of its 16-year playoff drought all the way into the 3^rd seed in the West last year. And the Pacers got a new leader for a team that wasn’t really going anywhere but now looks like a real threat, with In-Season Tournament Tyrese Haliburton trampling over the 3 best teams in the Eastern Conference.

So what’s the problem? The problem is, I’m now in a position where I find myself wanting to enjoy Haliburton’s success, but unable to fully do so. Part of me can’t help but jealously watch from the sidelines as the NBA world ogles over Tyrese, looking at him like an ex that regrettably got away. I love De’Aaron Fox and I’m glad we still have him. He’s the whole reason I became a Kings fan in the first place. At the same time, the loss of Tyrese Haliburton still stings. I want him to be good, I want him to succeed…just not this much, this soon. Because if he continues to ascend at this rate, I’m going to feel like we got Luka’d all over again.