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Tyrese Haliburton was hurt after the Sacramento Kings traded him to the Indiana Pacers before the trade deadline last season, so much so that he hated the organization for it.
The Kings pulled the trigger on the Haliburton deal to land a superstar talent in Domantas Sabonis. With a plethora of guards at their disposal, they had the opportunity to make the move and balance out the roster. Unfortunately for Haliburton, he was the team’s most alluring piece available given the star potential he has shown early on.
Prior to the trade, he was averaging 14.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game for Sacramento. In fact, his last game for the Kings saw him record 13 points and 17 assists on top of six boards and two steals.
Naturally, Haliburton was hurt that the team moved him, especially since he thought all along he was part of their future. He admitted he felt “invincible” because he was really playing well and thought there was no way they would send him away.
“I’m not gonna lie — for a while, it was just complete resentment towards, honestly, everybody in the organization if I’m being quite frank, even people who had nothing to do with [the trade],” Haliburton shared, via Basketball News.
“It was just resentment towards the organization as a whole. And that was so immature of me. It’s funny — the other day I was just writing down regrets I have in my life, unfulfilled expectations and resentments, and the only resentment I could come up with in my life right now is the Sacramento Kings. And it’s like, I don’t want to hold onto that.”
Tyrese Haliburton, however, is moving on and has made huge progress in forgetting the disappointment and frustration he experienced with the Kings. As the Pacers showed him their commitment to make him the face of the franchise, the 22-year-old guard is now seeing the deal as a blessing in disguise for him.
Compared to Sacramento where he would need to share the spotlight and the guard duties with De’Aaron Fox, Haliburton is the focus of the offense in Indiana.
“If I’m being completely honest, that [trade] is such a blessing for me. It’s so easy now to look at it that way, but it’s a complete blessing for me to be in the situation that I’m in, to have the ability to showcase what I can do and play my natural position. It’s helping me a ton. So, you know, it’s love at the end of the day. It is what it is. Just taking a step back and self-reflecting on a lot of different things in life, I think it made me a bigger person and just have more self-awareness,” Haliburton added.
For sure, though, the next time Tyrese meets the Kings, he’ll be raring to show them what they missed.