Did the Kings make a mistake by trading away Tyrese Haliburton?
Mike Brown is coming off a championship with the Golden State Warriors and the Kings are hoping to bring that championship pedigree to the state’s capital.
With the Sacramento Kings starting their season 0-4, it begs the question of whether or not trading their promising young point guard of the future was a mistake. I will be taking a deep dive into the current Kings roster and assessing realistic expectations for the team moving forward.
I will also be entertaining the idea of what a Tyrese Haliburton-led Kings could have accomplished here in Sacramento. So let’s start in California’s capital.
The Sacramento Kings have not started out their season the way that many of their fans were expecting. Under a completely new coaching staff led by Mike Brown and a full offseason for Domantas Sabonis to get acclimated to his new team, Sacramento was excited for this new chapter.
Brown is coming off a championship with the Golden State Warriors and the Kings are hoping to bring that championship pedigree to the state’s capital. Add on key acquisitions: Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter while also drafting highly touted rookie Keegan Murray and it felt like the sky was the limit for the Sacramento Kings. Unfortunately, things haven’t panned out for the team thus far, but it’s a long season.
Defense
Defense has always been a key issue for the Kings and four games into the 22’-23’ season it appears nothing has changed under a defensive-minded coach like Mike Brown.
The Kings currently rank 23rd in points allowed. They have been giving up 30 point quarters and have nonexistent help defense. This isn’t something new for the Kings but has been surprising this year considering coach Brown’s emphasis on that end of the floor. Maybe that newly installed cowbell at practice has been collecting dust.
Additionally, having Sabonis be your sole rim protector hasn’t panned out well for the Kings either. Sabonis has never been a great defender, so this should come as no surprise.
Opposing teams have been feasting on Sabonis at the rim. It’s one thing to have bad on-ball defenders, but to also rely on Sabonis to be your anchor isn’t the last line of defense that you want.
Sacramento is trying to make use of him as something that he’s not and I worry that this has led to his decreased production on the offensive end having to exude so much energy defensively.
Harrison Barnes has also evidently lost a step. In the Kings home-opener, with the Kings cutting down the Blazers lead late in the 4th quarter, Jerami Grant completely blew by Barnes without even attempting a single dribble move. Just a blow by. A crucial defensive mishap that resulted in an And-1 and sucked the life out of the building.
This is just one of the many crucial defensive lapses we’ve seen from the Kings this season and I fear there may be more to come. Hopefully, this is just a sign of growing pains with the season being fairly young but there should be significant worry considering the team history’s track record on the defensive side of the ball.
Roster Configuration
The Kings current roster is not suited for a playoff push. Mike Brown has been experimenting with different lineups even playing up to 12 players in a game like we saw against the Memphis Grizzlies most recently.
While the additions of Huerter and Monk have been somewhat promising, it isn’t enough to salvage an overall mediocre roster. The Kings have relied on bench minutes from players like Terence Davis and Davion Mitchell that haven’t shown much promise.
The name of the game is versatile wings…something that the Kings don’t have. With Barnes appearing to take a step back and KZ Okpala seemingly being someone the Kings overvalue on the defensive end, the Kings lack true depth.
If Fox isn’t scoring, it’s really difficult to picture who can drive the offense for Sacramento. We’ve seen offensive spurts from Huerter and Monk but it’s hard to imagine the Kings having enough offensive firepower to go against top teams.
On the bright side, Murray has been a bright spot in the limited minutes we’ve seen him in action. The “Tim Duncan'' like demeanor from him is very apparent as he gets the job done on both ends of the floor while being super efficient and not flashy.
The Kings should not be relying on a rookie to salvage their season but it appears that Murray has some big shoes to fill this year. While you can make the argument that this is the best team Sacramento has surrounded Fox with, it is hard to imagine that this current roster can compete with the best of them.
The teams they’re competing against for the play-in tournament have all seemingly gotten better with the likes of the Pelicans and Timberwolves. It is sad to think that the Kings’ ceiling is hoping that the Blazers and Lakers stink it up so that they can be a shoe-in for the play-in tournament. But with the Blazers currently standing at 4-1 they appear to be in the driver’s seat for the 10-seed or even better.
Where do the Kings go after an 0-4 start?
With limited options, the Kings are simply going to have to be better. We have to assume that the Kings are still getting used to Mike Brown’s new system. Fox has been having a great year so far averaging 30.5 points, 5.8 assists, and shooting 43.3 percent from 3-point range through the first 4 games.
As Murray fills in as the starter, hopefully the Kings can begin to gel and build chemistry as the season progresses. Murray is averaging a whopping 17.9 points, five rebounds, three 3PM on 51/42/100 splits so there is some promise there.
The unfortunate reality is that the Western Conference remains just as competitive as ever and the Kings are more than likely going to repeat their mediocre ways for the rest of the season.
As much as Kings fans would like to see Fox continue his offensive tear, it appears that the entire Kings roster is going to have to significantly exceed expectations in order to even have a shot at the playoffs.
There will be highs and lows but it’s important to acknowledge what the Kings’ true ceiling is here. They are currently structured to be a 9th/10th seed at best and a lottery team at worst unless they can acquire a formidable wing player or an interior defender.
A few names that ring a bell are Charlotte’s Gordon Hayward and PJ Washington, two wings we could see be made available if Charlotte decides to enter the Wembanyama race. Myles Turner has also been a name that has generated buzz and if the Kings truly do want to become the Pacers of the West it may be time for a Sabonis-Turner reunion if that means breaking Sacramento’s 16 year playoff drought.
But with all that being said, it begs the question if the Sacramento Kings would have been off if they never traded away Tyrese Haliburton?
Could Tyrese Haliburton have been the key to Sacramento’s playoff drought?
Take this question with a grain of salt. Mind you, the Kings were still losing before acquiring Sabonis. While the Haliburton trade has been met with mixed emotions from fans, you couldn’t deny Monte’s decision to finally be aggressive in making a push for the playoffs.
Had the Kings retained Haliburton, the franchise would be destined for another rebuild. But maybe that’s what the Kings needed? Seeing how this season has started out for Sacramento, going “all-in” doesn't appear to be working out.
Not only did the Kings trade away Haliburton who’s been playing phenomenal basketball for the Indiana Pacers averaging an amazing 22.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 10 assists, they also traded a future first round pick this offseason to acquire Kevin Huerter.
The Kings have put all of their chips in to make the playoffs so if it doesn’t work out this year, who knows what’s next? Does Sabonis walk this offseason? Does Fox demand a trade? A lot of their cap space has been tied to Fox’s recently signed max contract and hopes to re-sign the Lithuanian big man this off-season.
Aside from that, their only big contracts are Barnes’ expiring $18 million dollar deal and Huerter’s approximate $16 million a year contract. But what would this Kings franchise have looked like this season with Haliburton still at the helm?
If it wasn’t Haliburton to go, it would have been Fox. Before the Sabonis trade, Haliburton was gaining traction as Sacramento’s next young star. Fox had been dealing with injuries all season and even when he was on the floor it appeared that Fox had mailed it in.
The Fox-Haliburton duo did not work out in Fox’s favor with Haliburton taking on many of the ball handling responsibilities. Note: this is where I do very much go into hypotheticals so please read with caution.
There was no doubt that the Kings roster surrounding Haliburton was atrocious. I would assume the Kings would have shipped out Fox for some young pieces and future assets to truly build around Haliburton. There was a lot of buzz surrounding a potential Ben Simmons-De'Aaron Fox swap but considering Philly’s commitment to Tyrese Maxey I doubt the 76ers would have traded for Fox, especially given that Harden was available.
So that leaves the Cavs and Knicks as the only major buyers at the trade deadline. My guess is that Fox would have ended up in the Big Apple. The Kings would trade away Fox in a deal centered around Julius Randle and picks. The Kings get a formidable big man in Randle while also acquiring future assets to build around Haliburton. The Knicks finally get the young star they’ve been looking for in Fox.
Going into the 2022 offseason it’s hard to predict what moves the Kings would have made. Assuming that they would have finished around the same spot in the standings, it makes it easier to pencil in the Kings still drafting Keegan Murray. So now you have a roster of:
Tyrese Haliburton
Buddy Hield
Harrison Barnes
Julius Randle
Richaun Holmes
Keegan Murray (6th man)
Assuming that the Kings would have found a different way to offload Buddy’s contract, maybe the Kings still do ship him out somewhere for salary fillers and a future first. Now the Kings would have been entering the 22-23 season with something like:
Tyrese Haliburton
maybe a Josh Richardson (future 1st)
Harrison Barnes
Julius Randle
Richaun Holmes
Keegan Murray (6th man)
Under this hypothetical Sacramento-Haliburton tenure, the Kings would have most likely suffered another losing season in 2022-23 and officially enter the Wembanyama race.
I know this is wishful thinking, but to imagine the Kings getting the 1st overall pick and catapulting themselves into a future of winning pairing Haliburton with the French unicorn is a scary sight.
Whether the Kings would keep Julius Randle or not is up to them. But the thought of having Haliburton play alongside any young 2023 draft prospect (#1 pick or not) does make you curious. Especially considering that this year’s current team is still losing despite going “all-in.”.
Who knows what truly would have happened if the Kings had kept Tyrese Haliburton? But from the looks of this season so far, maybe gathering future assets would have been a better move for the Kings.
It is hard to imagine that the Sabonis trade does enough to move the needle for Sacramento so they could have been better off trying to go young. We’ll see how the Pacers turn out long-term to find that out. But with that being said, the Kings are hungry to put an end to their 16-year playoff drought.
The season is just beginning and we will find out sooner than later whether or not the Kings made the right decision to trade away their young star in Tyrese Haliburton.