It's pretty clear now that the Sacramento Kings were dead wrong after deciding to trade Tyrese Haliburton for Domantas Sabonis a few years back.
A few years ago, the Sacramento Kings made one of the more polarizing moves in the NBA when they traded Tyrese Haliburton to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Domantas Sabonis. Looking back, especially after the Indiana Pacers' current run to the NBA Finals, it's hard not to remember that as a huge black eye on the Kings' recent front office decisions. To say it was the wrong move would be an understatement. As the Kings stare down the barrel of another potential rebuild, it could be one of the bigger "what-ifs" in recent NBA history.
Nevertheless, in real-time, there was some understanding of the move. With De'Aaron Fox cemented as the team's lead guard, it was difficult for Haliburton to find complete comfort in the backcourt. Plus, the idea was that such a move would help the Kings balance out their roster.
The Sacramento Kings made the wrong trade
While it may have worked for a couple of seasons in which the Kings won 48 and 46 games, respectively, in the two years after the move, Sacramento only has one playoff appearance and no series wins to show for it. It also doesn't help that just a couple of years after the move, Fox decided to demand a trade.
On the other hand, the Pacers, with Haliburton, have made the conference finals each of the past two seasons and have finally broken through to the NBA Finals. I wouldn't say their current success is only due to Haliburton, but he's certainly played a big part in it. Without him, they wouldn't be in this position.
The Pacers are back in the NBA Finals for the first time in 25 years, while the Kings have some huge big-picture questions that they must answer heading into the offseason.
There's no question that Haliburton has found his footing and hit his ceiling over the last couple of seasons with the Pacers. Would he have done so in Sacramento? Perhaps. However, it's hard to predict that, especially considering that he was forced to share the ball with Fox, who was already established in the backcourt.
While it may be slightly unfair to blame the Kings' front office for such a move in the moment, that's part of their job - to be able to foreshadow the future. They were completely wrong about Haliburton, and there's no debating that at this point.
In the end, there's nothing the Kings can do now. In many ways, moves like this one help explain why the Kings are the Kings. It shouldn't come as a shock that, given how the last few months have played out, the Kings made a bad basketball decision. They took a chance and lost. They shouldn't beat themselves up that much. However, at the same time, they did make a mistake in failing to realize just how big of a star Haliburton could be.