The Sacramento Kings traded Tyrese Haliburton for Domantas Sabonis ahead of the NBA trade deadline, which yielded rather polarizing reactions from both sides. Former NBA veteran JJ Redick didn't mince words on why he feels that move was a mistake for Sacramento.

In a recent live session of his Old Man and the Three podcast, Redick sounded off on why it was foolish to trade Tyrese Haliburton. According to Redick, Haliburton is the Kings' true best player, and not established point guard De'Aaron Fox.

“I went on ESPN and I said ‘the Kings just traded their best player' which is true. If we look at counting stats, yes De'Aaron Fox averages more points, I understand that. There's really no statistical measure that you can look at this season that doesn't say Tyrese Haliburton has been the best player for the Kings.”

De'Aaron Fox has been the lead guard for the Kings for the past five seasons thus far. While he's put up impressive statistical campaigns and had a career year last season, it's mostly been mired by losing records.

“All of the all-encompassing advanced stats, single metric stats, who's the best player? It's been Tyrese. And the second best player on the team for the Kings this year has been Harrison [Barnes]. That is a fact,” continued Redick. “I don't give a f–k how many points a guy averages. That doesn't mean s–t. Tyrese Haliburton plays basketball exactly how basketball should be played.”

Redick does admit that he's biased considering he is good friends with Tyrese Haliburton and often has him over as a guest on his podcast. However, he's also a well-respected NBA veteran with nearly two decades of experience in the league. He clearly sees something special in Haliburton that was not worth trading away for, despite an All-Star return in Domantas Sabonis.