Subscribe
Follow Us
The Sacramento Kings took a lot of criticism when they traded Tyrese Haliburton to the Indiana Pacers last season. It had nothing to do with the players they were receiving in return, but more so that they were giving up a talented young player so quickly. Flash forward to this season and Domantas Sabonis, one of the players acquired from the Pacers, is having a strong year and helping lead a surprising turnaround for the Kings. The two teams were scheduled to face each other on Wednesday and Domantas Sabonis gave his thoughts on the deal via Sean Cunningham of Fox40 News.
Domantas Sabonis talks about facing his old Pacers team for the first time in Sacramento since last February's trade from Indiana & evaluates the trade for both sides. pic.twitter.com/yuUYuL9kkL
— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) November 30, 2022
“Everyone's been asking me that but at the end of the day it's just another game on our schedule,” Sabonis said. “We've had a rough slide here with three losses in a row and we really got to figure it out by game four.”
If this season is any indication, the trade actually worked out for both sides. The Kings are currently 10-9 an in sixth place in the Western Conference standings. The Pacers are 12-8 and fourth in the Eastern Conference. Sabonis has paid attention to what the Pacers have been doing and has seen how the trade improved each team overall.
“We're doing great here. I was traded here to turn things around and change the franchise, I feel like we're on a great start. There's still a lot of season left,” Sabonis said. “Tyrese is playing amazing. He's doing amazing, he's playing at an All-Star level, it looks like they're having a lot of fun.”
Coming into Monday's game, Sabonis was putting up 16.9 points per game, 11.0 rebounds and 6.4 assists while shooting 58.6 percent from the field. Tyrese Haliburton was averaging 19.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and a league-leading 11.3 assists while shooting 47.6 percent from the field and 38 percent from three-point range.
It's safe to say this was a time when the trade worked out for both teams.
