During Tyrese Haliburton's HoF speech, will we look at the Kings trade as one of the biggest blunders of all time?

[Godymas]

Imagine this, it's the year 2040. Tyrese Haliburton retired in 2036. He retired leading the Pacers all time in 3 pointers made above Reggie Miller, he demolished the Pacers all time assists record by an unreal margin. He's managed to get Indiana one championship. He has 6 assist titles, finished top 3 in MVP twice including a runner up, has made 6 All NBA 1st teams and 10 total All NBA selections. He is a lock for the greatest Pacer.

As Tyrese gets on the stage for his indictment ceremony The Athletic quietly releases an article "The most underrated trade in NBA history, how the Pacers turned Paul George into their greatest franchise player of all time" In this article it details the story of Haliburton, how the Pacers wound up with Sabonis, how Sabonis completely revitalized his career to become an All NBA 3rd team level player, how the Kings broke their historic streak of missing the playoffs with Sabonis, how the Kings had an era of 1st round exists during the Sabonis years, the inevitable firing of Mike Brown, the forced hiring of Doc Rivers which ultimately led to the best Kings season followed by a heart breaking 3-1 loss in the second round to the dynasty Timberwolves.

The article talks about how the Kings went all in on a poor 3 point shooting athletic guard after witnessing a history of franchises ruined by the likes of John Wall, Derrick Rose, etc. how they never managed to get it together defensively, how Sabonis turned into a liability for their team in the playoffs with less offensive upside compared to Jokic which in some ways made this era of Kings the equivalent to the Dame and CJ Trailblazers when the Warriors were winning.

And then there comes the praise of Haliburton. How he has surpassed CP3 easily for one of the greatest point guards of all time, how he's up there with Zeke, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West for one of the all time greats behind Curry/Magic. How he completely saved the city of Indianapolis and it's championship drought and became the face of all their sports and a face of North American basketball. How he was a crucial floor general that knocked out a legendary France team in the Olympics en route to a gold model win. A France team headlined by multiple DPOY Rudy Gobert, multiple MVP and multiple MVP AND NBA Champion Victor Wembanyama, and Haliburton led a rag tag group of tiny guards out hustle and speed past the size of France coached by the legendary Erik Spoelstra.

All of this was created when the Kings decided to go all in on the guy that was harder to trade at the time, DeAaron Fox. A FO that was so desperate for a crumb of success they were willing to take a shortcut to bootsrap their franchise to at the bare minimum a treadmill state. What came to follow was greater than anyone could have expected, and yet the signs were there during Tyrese's tenure in a Kings uniform for those that were paying attention and boy were the Pacers paying attention.

[FOB]

Whatever you're going through, man, I'm sorry.

[UcanUwill]

Trade where both teams obviously win, and this the one you pick? Bucks traded Dirk Nowitzki on draft day for trackor Taylor, but ok.

[jazzfan1971]

I'm sure that was a cool story.

[codydaze]

Didn't have reading anti-Kings fan fiction on my daily bingo card.

[Dirk]

Here is the TL;DR

Tyrese Haliburton retired a legend in 2036, leading the Pacers to their first championship and becoming their undisputed greatest player. He won numerous individual accolades, surpassed Reggie Miller's 3-pointer record, and shattered the franchise assist record.

Meanwhile, a fascinating article details the trade that sent Paul George to the Clippers for Sabonis, who revitalized his career with the Kings. The Kings enjoyed playoff success under Sabonis, but ultimately fell short due to their defensive limitations and a lack of shooting. This mirrored the struggles of the Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum Blazers during the Warriors dynasty.

The article ends by praising Haliburton's transformative impact on the Pacers and his ascent to the upper echelon of all-time point guards. He led the USA to Olympic gold, defying expectations against a star-studded French team. This success stemmed from the Kings prioritizing De'Aaron Fox, unintentionally allowing the Pacers to acquire their franchise cornerstone in Haliburton. The trade, initially seen as a win for the Kings, ultimately propelled the Pacers to unexpected heights.

[FreeBird23]

TLDR

[leolozon]

If I was a King’s fan, not drafting Doncic would bother me more.

[jkvonny]

Not this crap again....

[Godymas]

If I was a King’s fan, not drafting Doncic would bother me more.

it's just a clear reminder that even though the Kings are winning now, they're still losing

[DaGawd]

tyrese haliburton last night:

9 points 7 assist 2/11 from the field and a loss to the raptors.. odd timing for this thread

[Chuck Everett]

[HotelVitale]

Nah, be looked at as a rough deal but nowhere close to a huge blunder. You sometimes see those trades from the past where some great player was traded as a pick or passed over for someone who was good but older or just not all time great. People talk about those as L's but no one ever talks about those as top blunders of all time.

[Effigy]

Imagine this, it's the year 2040. Tyrese Haliburton retired in 2036. He retired leading the Pacers all time in 3 pointers made above Reggie Miller, he demolished the Pacers all time assists record by an unreal margin. He's managed to get Indiana one championship. He has 6 assist titles, finished top 3 in MVP twice including a runner up, has made 6 All NBA 1st teams and 10 total All NBA selections. He is a lock for the greatest Pacer.

Let's not get crazy here.....

[EmpireFalls]

There’s a semi-decent chance Sabonis will have a HOF case by the end of his career himself so I doubt it.

[Quattro]

Ya that Sabonis guy is a real scrub. Horrible trade!

[ChipotleWest]

If I was a King’s fan, not drafting Doncic would bother me more.

Thank you, Sabonis is pretty good and they're a playoff team. They passed up Luka for Marvin Bagley III who's on his third team already.

Suns also passed up on Luka. Could have had Booker/Luka, and maybe someone else joins them dunno if it would be KD or not. They drafted Ayton who's also no longer a Sun.

[NZB2323]

Sabonis is 2nd all time in Triple Doubles for the Kings, only to Oscar Robertson, who was on the Kansas City Royals.

Sabonis is 1st in box +/-, offensive box +/-, rebound %, defensive rebound %, 2nd in FG%, PER, TS%, effective FG%, Offensive Rating, and 10th in VORP.

This doesn’t even compare to them drafting Bagley over Doncic, the Mavs not resigning Steve Nash, the Magic not keeping Shaq, the Trailblazers taking Bowie over Jordan, the Bulls breaking up the dynasty, the Thunder trading Harden, ect.

There was also an ABA GM who had a sign on bonus check to offer Kareem, but he thought the meeting went so well he decided not to offer it to Kareem. It was the Nets, who also traded away draft picks that became Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for a past their primes KG and Paul Pierce.

https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/book/091023

Edit: I guess it was the ABA commission, George Mikan, who didn’t give Kareem the check.

[DLoMor]

Kings won the trade, they got to the playoffs before Pacers did.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

Don’t do this.

The Pacers are cursed enough as it is. The last thing we need is you jinxing them into oblivion with this post.

Every star the Pacers have had since Reggie have either had a horrific, fluke injury, or have gotten into a fight with fans.

I’m convinced the odds are higher that Tyrese Haliburton retires in the middle of his prime to become a professional hacky-sack player, than he is to have a smooth sailing career.

That isn’t to say I think he’ll retire in the middle of his prime, but the Pacers are beyond cursed and are not allowed to have nice things.