On the eve of the 2022 NBA trade deadline, the Sacramento Kings made a shocking move by trading Tyrese Haliburton to the Indiana Pacers in a deal centered around star big man Domantas Sabonis. Sacramento was feeling the pressure of having the longest playoff drought in Northern American professional sports, with an owner in Vivek Ranadivé who was hesitant to embrace a full rebuild centered around Haliburton and De’Aaron Fox.
The Kings had a log jam of point guards with Fox, Haliburton and Davion Mitchell on the roster with no true viable center outside of Richaun Holmes. Haliburton was Sacramento’s best trade asset to improve the roster immediately. Fox had just signed a five-year, $163 million contract extension, and Haliburton was on Year 2 of his rookie-scale deal — making him a more desirable player to dish out via trade.
In the short term, the deal paid for Sacramento. The Kings broke a 16-year playoff drought, won 48 games and finished with the best offensive rating (119.4) in NBA history before, ironically, the Pacers broke that record the following season en route to a berth in the Eastern Conference finals.
Sabonis earned All-NBA honors and was the offensive hub of a potent unit centered around dribble handoffs, creating open 3-pointers within the flow of the offense and pace. The Kings lost in seven games to the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs and haven’t returned to the playoffs since after back-to-back losses in the Play-In Tournament.
Haliburton getting shipped to Indiana allowed him to unlock his full potential as one of the best guards and offensive engines in the NBA. The Kings, of course, ended up trading Fox before the 2025 trade deadline to the San Antonio Spurs and now have a glaring need for a point guard heading into a critical offseason.
Meanwhile, the Pacers are three wins away from the franchise’s first NBA Finals berth in 25 years after Haliburton recorded 31 points and 11 assists during a dramatic Game 1 comeback 138-135 win in overtime over the New York Knicks.
Is there a scenario where Haliburton and Fox co-exist in Sacramento together in the backcourt? It’s possible. Let’s dive into why the Kings ultimately broke up that core and how we reached this point.
Looking back on Haliburton’s time with the Kings
On the night of the 2020 NBA Draft, Haliburton shockingly fell to Sacramento at pick No. 12. In the weeks and days leading up to the draft, Haliburton was projected as a top-10 pick in most mock drafts. The Kings had needs at wing and center but took the best player on the board available despite already having their franchise point guard in Fox on the roster.
In the first month of Haliburton’s rookie season, it became apparent he was one of the best players from his draft class. In his sixth NBA game, Haliburton logged 35 minutes off the bench and scored 15 of his 17 total points in the fourth quarter during a 128-124 win over the Chicago Bulls.
A regular season game isn’t anything to write home about, but that night marked the first glimpse of what Haliburton could do running the show. Haliburton logged extensive minutes against Chicago because Fox got hurt in the first quarter and did not return to the game.
Haliburton started just 20 games for Sacramento during his rookie season. When he did come off the bench, the Kings tended to stagger Fox and Haliburton, so they didn’t share the court. In Year 2, the Kings inserted Haliburton in the starting lineup next to Fox before trading him away after he started 51 games.
In Haliburton’s final game in Sacramento, he dished out 17 assists in a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Four games before that, he scored a career-high 38 points while Fox was sidelined because of an ankle injury. The Athletic reported in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline that the Kings planned to build around Fox and Haliburton together, which never materialized.
Why the Fox-Hali pairing didn’t work in Sacramento
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Haliburton shared the court with Fox for 960 minutes during the 2020-21 season, which was Sacramento’s ninth-most-popular two-man lineup. The star backcourt posted a -4.7 net rating – the second-worst among Sacramento’s two-man lineups that logged at least 500 minutes together. Fox and Haliburton had an even worse net rating the following season (-5.3) in 853 minutes.
This pairing would have never worked long-term because of their similar play styles. Fox is a high-usage guard who thrives in the midrange, while Haliburton has shown he can be an elite offensive engine on his own.
The Kings traded Haliburton for Sabonis to go all-in on the Fox and Sabonis pairing. Sacramento desperately wanted to end the longest playoff drought in NBA history and viewed Sabonis as that missing piece. Indiana wanted to reset its timeline by adding a blue-chip talent and made subsequent moves to go from a lottery team into a championship contender.
