Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers have enjoyed somewhat of a resurgent year in 2023-24, currently sitting in solid playoff position at the All-Star Break point of the season after missing out on the festivities a year ago. Haliburton was named an All-Star for the second year in a row, leading a Pacers offense that has been lethal, to say the very least, so far this year.

Of course, Haliburton was originally drafted by the Sacramento Kings back in the 2020 NBA Draft, and now he is shedding more light on why he was surprised that the Detroit Pistons didn't select him at number seven.

“With the Pistons, I knew they needed a point guard,” said Haliburton, per Taylor Rooks and Bleacher Report on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “I already felt like I was the best point guard in the draft, because on ESPN, it has like the top players available. One, two, and three were Anthony Edwards, James Wiseman, and LaMelo Ball. So after that, I'm the number one best available… it flashed up Killian Hayes, and I'm like ‘what?' In the moment, I was just angry.”

It should be noted that Haliburton has openly admitted to telling certain teams, including the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers, both of whom had top 12 selections in 2020, not to draft him (per the Detroit Free Press), making him at least partly responsible for his fall down the boards. Still, as we know, NBA players are sometimes willing to look past those sorts of things when extracting motivation.