In one of the more surprising moves of the NBA Trade Deadline, the Sacramento Kings shipped off arguably their best player in Tyrese Haliburton to the Indiana Pacers in a blockbuster deal. However, the second-year guard actually thought he was potentially going to be traded to the Sixers in a package for Ben Simmons, who eventually went to the Brooklyn Nets for James Harden.
Haliburton, who is friends with Philly forward Georges Niang because they both played for Iowa State, facetimed him on that Thursday morning and initially thought he was getting moved to the Sixers. However, in a matter of seconds, the Pacers playmaker was receiving a call from the Kings GM.
@thelongshotpod NBA Trade Dealine is crazy. #sacramentokings #indianapacers #nba #basketball
Haliburton was surprised and you can't blame him. While De'Aaron Fox is Sacramento's best scorer, Haliburton has so much potential and was believed to be untouchable. Now, he's the face of the Pacers franchise and their building block for years to come.
It was definitely a crazy deadline but it's interesting where Haliburton's head was at. There were some rumors before about the Kings being interested in Simmons, but Sacramento previously made it clear they weren't interested in moving the 21-year-old. That sure changed quickly, but the Pacers are definitely happy to have him. After all, Haliburton is already averaging 20.8 points, 11 assists, and shooting 45% from downtown in four games for Indiana so far. Talk about efficiency.
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