Last night, Tyrese Haliburton cemented himself in NBA history with one of the craziest shots during one of the craziest playoff runs as the Indiana Pacers came back from 14 points down with under 3 minutes left to beat the New York Knicks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. It was just the latest big shot from Haliburton, who has already hit two buzzer beating game winners this playoffs as the Pacers have improbably put themselves just three games away from the NBA Finals for the first time in nearly 30 years.
It’s understandable how painful this is for Kings fans, especially after this latest season. For my part, I’m enjoying watching Haliburton have incredible success and I honestly hope they win the whole thing. These Pacers are fun to watch, and Haliburton was one of the sole bright spots of watching the Kings while he was here. Yes, it’s painful seeing him do it in another team’s jersey, but that’s not something he ever asked for as he has repeatedly said he had hoped to be the one to lead the Kings back to relevance.
Instead, he’s helping another small market do the same while the Kings are once again floundering.
There may not have been a trade more shocking than the Haliburton-Domantas Sabonis trade up until the Luka Doncic trade of this year. At the time, almost every NBA pundit stated that the Kings got fleeced. Sabonis was a fantastic player, but Haliburton was a young blue chip prospect on a rookie contract at one of the games most important positions. J.J. Redick famously called the trade “malpractice.” Three years later, I think it’s clear to say that while the trade itself wasn’t malpractice, what the Kings chose to do in the years after the trade was.
In The Years After The Trade
That first year was exactly what the doctor ordered. The Kings made some big moves in the summer to shore up the team around Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox. They also brought in Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter and drafted a rookie in Keegan Murray that was able to step in to the starting lineup and contribute immediately. The Kings put together an incredibly fast-paced offense and not only made the playoffs for the first time in 16 seasons, but did so in resounding fashion by winning the Pacific Division and claiming the 3rd seed. Their reward was an incredibly tough matchup against the battle-tested defending champion Golden State Warriors that went 7 games before Stephen Curry went nuclear. It was a tough loss but one that felt like a needed first step for a team that was still young and had its best days ahead.
It’s that summer where everything started to go wrong. Instead of trying to shore up weaknesses or go after other big fish, the Kings decided to just run it back while also losing assets. They used their first-round draft pick to dump Richaun Holmes’ salary. They traded away two seconds to Indiana to take a flier on Chris Duarte. Their biggest summer acquisition was signing 27-year-old Sasha Vezenkov to a multi-year deal, a player who even if he filled out his potential wouldn’t address any of Sacramento’s weaknesses.
Coach Mike Brown, originally brought in for his defense, decided to use some tough love with his team to try to bring them up to snuff on that end of the floor, but it’s hard to create a good defensive team out of thin air when you don’t have the pieces to do so. Vezenkov barely saw the floor because all he could do was shoot. Kevin Huerter saw his confidence disappear as his minutes were constantly messed with due to his lack of defensive intensity.
The Kings did end up being a better defensive team, but they also saw their offense go from best in the league to mediocre. They saw other teams in their conference get stronger; Dallas used Richaun Holmes and a 1st round pick (basically the same package the Kings used just to dump Holmes) to acquire Daniel Gafford from the Washington Wizards. Dallas also acquired PJ Washington, another guy the Kings could have used. The Kings were rumored to be in the running for both OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam as well, only to see themselves outbid by New York and Indiana respectively. The Kings were always on the “verge of a deal” but could never close it, and instead of taking a step forward, they took a step back. Where 48 wins was enough for the 3rd seed the year before, 46 wasn’t enough for even the 8th seed as the Kings were once again left on the outside looking in and failed to advance in the Play-In tournament after losing to the New Orleans Pelicans for the sixth time in a row.
The lessons of that disappointing sophomore season should have been clear from the get go. The Kings desperately needed more size and wing depth. Instead, the Kings once again used future assets to rid themselves of previous mistakes. The Kings used two 2nd round picks to move off of Davion Mitchell and Sasha Vezenkov, one a lottery pick rookie guard (taken over guys like Moses Moody, Alperen Sengun and Jalen Johnson) and the other the team’s “big signing” from the year before. With their lottery pick, they drafted yet another undersized guard in Devin Carter, knowing that he would also likely need shoulder surgery and would miss at least half the season to boot.
Then came Sacramento’s first actual big move since the Sabonis trade as they signed and traded for DeMar DeRozan. DeRozan just on name alone was one of the biggest names ever acquired in Kings history and that fact alone led many of us (not all, there were definitely skeptics on this side as well, although definitely more so in the general NBA audience) to overlook the significant issues of fit with the current Kings team. DeRozan, while extremely skilled, did not do anything to help the Kings with their biggest weaknesses of size and length. In fact, he made the Kings even smaller as Sacramento traded Harrison Barnes and an unprotected 2031 pick swap to San Antonio to make room for him. DeRozan was also not a three-point shooter, leading many to question how Sacramento’s spacing would look. Barnes had been a scapegoat for Kings fans for many years, especially with his disappearing act in many games during the previous season, but the one thing he could be relied on was to space the floor as he was a reliable outside shooter.
The Fit Of DeMar DeRozan And Defense Problems
The DeRozan move was deemed big enough by the Kings to consider themselves done for the summer as no other real additions were made from that point on. It didn’t take long for issues to arise. DeRozan’s fit in particular was awkward, as he dominated the ball and Sacramento’s three-point rate and percentage plummeted. It’s hard to see a team succeeding in today’s NBA without being excellent from three. Taking a look at this year’s conference finalists, only the Knicks shot fewer attempts than the Kings, but they were 8th in percentage made and all four teams were in the top 10 of 3P%. The Kings finished 19th this season.
Sacramento’s defense also wasn’t much improved, partly because of a lack of any new personnel to help out on that front and partly because of some weird coaching decisions by Mike Brown. One of the few bright spots from the previous season was the emergence of Keon Ellis, who looked to be exactly the type of two-way player the Kings needed. Ellis had taken over the starting shooting guard spot after injuries to both Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk and looked to be the perfect backcourt partner for De’Aaron Fox going forward. But that preseason, Brown decided to give Huerter the starting job back for game one of the regular season despite Huerter missing most of the summer and training camp due to his injury recovery. Despite all the evidence that the Kings were better with Ellis on the floor, Brown didn’t start him until Game 17 and then only did so for three games before deciding that Monk would then join the starting lineup, adding yet another ball-dominant offense only player to the starting lineup. It’s no wonder Keegan Murray suffered from back spasms toward the end of the season when he so often was the only defensive-minded player on the floor at times.
The Beginning Of The End
Brown was fired after a disastrous 13-18 start and while that marked the beginning of the end, it wasn’t the last bit of malpractice the Kings would go on to do. Brown’s firing caused irrevocable harm between the front office and Fox, who apparently had clearly stated to the team that he didn’t want to deal with yet another coaching carousel after years of dealing with it already. While Brown definitely needed to go, the Kings didn’t need to immediately make a decision on Fox, but instead they chose to get that situation resolved before the trade deadline by moving him to San Antonio, his preferred destination. Instead of bringing back a blue chip prospect like Stephon Castle or even any of San Antonio’s young wings (Devin Vassell, Jeremy Sochan or Keldon Johnson), the Kings opted to make it a three-team deal where they also dumped Huerter to Chicago and got back 30-year-old shooting guard Zach LaVine instead. Sure, the Kings also got a couple of future picks, but at best this was a sideways move for a team so desperate to try to sneak into the playoffs once more that they couldn’t wait until the summer to make a decision on their franchise player.
What makes this move so indefensible in my mind as well was the fact that both Monte McNair and Wes Wilcox both left the Kings shortly after this. The fact that these men were allowed to make arguably one of the biggest decisions in this franchise’s history despite the fact there was the very real possibility they would not be on board to deal with the consequences is inexcusable. That’s on Vivek Ranadivé (and may very well have been his own decision given his well documented desire and previous attempts to acquire LaVine). What’s even more annoying is that the Kings then made a couple moves to finally address the weaknesses they had had for two years now in acquiring Jonas Valanciunas and Jake LaRavia at the deadline. How different might this team have looked if the Kings had been able to acquire those pieces in the offseason or earlier in the season? Maybe it wouldn’t have been enough but it’s not like either was very expensive to acquire.
It’s hard to see where the Kings go from here. It’s almost unfathomable to me to think of the path they were on just two years ago having come to this point. Three years ago the Kings had a choice to make between building around Tyrese Haliburton or De’Aaron Fox and now they have neither. The Kings are now older and more expensive with no real long term assets. DeRozan is likely on his way out after just one season if I had to guess, but LaVine is likely here to stay at least for the next couple of years with nearly $100 million owed to him. Sabonis also has three years, $140 million left on his deal and the Kings will also need to consider what a new contract for Keegan Murray might cost next summer.
My worry for the Kings is that like with the Haliburton/Sabonis trade, they keep seeking short-term solutions to long-term problems. This team is desperate to be consistently relevant and avoid another record-setting drought, but the irony is that this short-term thinking continues to set this franchise further and further back. Hopefully, Scott Perry can avoid the mistakes of the past and navigate this team to a better future, but he certainly has his work cut out for him with the mess left by the last front office, and the bigger issue is that the man truly in charge can’t seem to get out of his own way and is still here for the foreseeable future.
Just waiting for the announcement of the max length LaVine extension that’s sure to come this offseason.
Lose sooner, lose later. Just lose. Hali would have demanded out of this circus by now.
Sounds like an excuse to defend the trade.
Whatever floats your boat.
Exactly
If that was not my intent but it’s how you onboarded it, whose issue is it?
Not to me . Well thought out and presented .
Yep. The moves that followed each team in the Sabonis-Haliburton trade itself is where you can see why the Kings are where they are, and it’s painfully frustrating.
I of course, like many on here, was absolutely shocked when I heard of the trade. I loved Hali and wanted him to stay here, but after a few days, I understood that if you wanted to get a really good player, you have to sometimes give up your best asset (at the time, Fox’s trade value was low). The beam team year happened the following year, and I felt okay about the trade because I thought we finally had some kind of core we could build off of that could be good for many years.
Then the next two season, moves didn’t get made to address the team’s weaknesses, and we end up trading for redundant players, bad contracts, and others. Meanwhile, the Pacers made solid moves to build around Hali and now they’ve been to two straight ECF with a chance at going to the Finals this year…in just three years since that trade.
Unfortunately, I feel even if we didn’t trade Hali, with Vivek in charge of the team, he would’ve just been on a losing basketball team who would’ve eventually wanted out in the same way that Fox did. I wouldn’t be shocked at this point is Sabonis is gone within the next year either.
What a clusterf*ck.
Is there another example of a team trading their best foundational piece bc none of their other players are worth much? Genuinely asking.
Seems like you take what you can get for the other players and build around the guy that showed himself to be our most valuable asset.
Unless your goal is to end an embarrassing playoff drought and top out as a first round exit. …Because that’s exactly what happened here.
Dallas let Brunson walk for nothing. Clippers have absolutely nothing to show for, including their future picks, when they traded away SGA. The Pels gave up picks and Dyson Daniels for Murray. I’m guessing the Suns regret every day that they gave up young prospects in Bridges and Johnson, plus picks, for Durant.
Point is, other teams have given up far more and have far less to show for it when compared to Sabonis for Hali. The Kings gave up no picks and still have a very good Sabonis for years to come.
As Akis so perfectly pointed out in the article, the trade itself wasn’t bad, it was the moves that followed the lone playoff season that sunk the boat.
Didn’t Dallas trade their best foundational piece recently?
I’ve always had a hunch, and its just my own, that Fox was the reason Hali was traded. Vivek loved Fox. I think Fox was the golden boy in Sac for a few years and once we got Hali, that all seemed to shift to him and he became THE fan favorite not only in Sac but around the league and I truly think it rubbed him the wrong way.
Do I think he demanded Hali be traded? Probably not. Do I think he might have been involved in any discussions about team needs, as the defacto leader at the time? Definitely, but also who knows. I do know that once that trade happened it seemed like Fox flipped a switch as a player though and turned his game up a notch or two.
Overall though I blame whoever took Davion over Sengun more than anything about the trade. We went more of a win now approach trading young player for proven player, instead of dumping Fox and building around Hali and Sengun and here we are years later watching what a Hali built team can be in the playoffs
My hunch is that the Kings could get Domas for Hali and his rookie contract, while the market was not nearly as enamored of Fox and his second contract. Hali was a $4m player at the time of the trade, with $4.2m and $5.8m being the price tag the following two years. Conversely, Fox was at $28.1m, $30.4m and $32.6m.
If I had to hazard a guess, Vivek would have preferred to retain the less expensive Haliburton, and his only enthusiasm over the trade was due to Buddy Hield and his contract being included as part of the outgoing deal.
Yup, we need to dispel revisionist history. It likely wasn’t a Fox or Hali trade scenario. Indy may have had no interest in Fox and eating Buddy’s deal was the price to be paid for wanting Hali. We can’t forget that dumping Buddy was a catalyst for acquiring Huerter and Monk, of which the Kings would have not made the playoffs without.
The Kings also only had Fox and Hali and were going nowhere when the trade for Domas happened. They were 20-36 the night of the trade.The Sabonis trade and the moves that following summer that lead to an 18 game improvement and the #3 seed were the best moves the team made in 20 years.
My takes are 99% butt pulled, just to be clear. It was just something I had noticed post trade. If I was an NBA gm I would gun for Hali over Fox as well, especially when contracts are thrown in. I have nothing negative to say about Fox outside of I was disappointed he wasn’t the one originally shipped out in the trade. Still loved me some Fox force 5 though.
It’s just interesting 2 generational point guards aren’t in Sac while we chose the one who ended up leaving
Sengun was such an obvious pick imo but MM took an undersized guard.
Last year Ware was the obvious pick and MM took an undersized guard.
They’re both technically PGs. The two good super sized PGs we had MM traded away (Fox, Hali). I don’t know why MM was operating the way he was or if he was just completely doing what Vivek told him to, including who to draft. MM comes from the Morey tree, but as a GM he didn’t operate like Morey.
It wasn’t obvious but had we not traded Halliburton, it’s possible we would have drafted Senjun instead of Mitchell. Had that occurred, we would be championship competitive right now. Fox, Halliburton, Murray and Sengun would have been a nice roster.
We had Hali and Fox when we drafted Mitchell.
There was the misinformed thought that the two couldn’t co-exist and one was going. So if we were,riding with the two of them they don’t draft Mitchell
I don’t recall any discussion that Fox and Hali could’t co-exist. If anything it was that the Kings were paying Buddy $22M to come off the bench behind Fox and Hali.
Yep. The narrative that neither were as good when they shared the floor came during the 21-22 season, after Mitchell was drafted. The thought that Mitchell was drafted so that Hali could be traded 8 months later seems like a stretch to me.
That’s the annoying thing with this team is we’ll never really know if its a MM, Vivek, Vlade, Matina, ect who is truly calling the shots in the front office and made those moves. Honestly every damn move since he’s taken over stinks of meddling and he’s the one common denominator who is outlasting all these people who in public are in charge
That’s why drafting the BPA is always the thing to do. When BPA and team need align, that’s even better. I was all for Ware this last draft. Fit a need and was better than Carter, imo. But the Kings went with a Davion replacement because they wanted guard depth.
Agreed. To me Ware and Sengun were obvious picks, but I get that some don’t buy that.
Agree about Davion over Sengun but wish the Kings had the Mitchell version point guard that Miami has .
It’s amazing what putting a player in a role and system that benefits what they do well can do for a player! I was a big off night fan(LOVE defensive players), but the glaring need that we traded Hali for was still there for the taking in the draft that year. If we could have committed to an actual rebuild, Fox Hali Sengun is a great young offensive core.
The Kings will always be the island of misfit toys and other teams always seem to squeeze whatever juice out of players we haven’t wasted completely. I’ve said it before, I love this team but I am so happy for good young players who don’t have to waste their careers here now. I’d could see Keegan being a 20ppg on his own team easily
Vivek did love Fox. Part of why they didn’t take Luca and why they didn’t keep Hali
Vivek is a piece of shit. Fucked everything up-amd continues to
#selltheteam
I still want to know, would the Pacers or any other team have taken Fox instead of Haliburton? I was jumped on at the time, but it seemed obvious that Fox should have been the one traded. Hali would have stayed here his entire career and eventually, taken this team where the Pacers are now. Fox is not that player, never was. This article is largely about all the mistakes that followed, but building around Haliburton and keeping or improving the draft picks was the only way this team was going to thrive. It’s what the Pacers have done to perfection. This business of expired ball-dominant former Bulls is nauseating. Now the team needs a full purge and years of frugal asset management to even consider being a team anyone cares about.
I always thought that the way Tyrese got blindsided by the trade that Fox was their main asset offered, but once the Pacers wouldn’t budge, the FO decided to pull the trigger anyway. But i know nothing.
At the very least-someone- probably Vivek -didn’t think Hali and Fox could co-exist. Same thing w Luca and Fox
No way they should have traded Hali and wouldn’t have if not for dumbass owner .
Fox’ value was low at that time. Hali at that time provided more potential upside than Fox.
Indy wasn’t making that trade for Fox and MM was dumb enough to pivot to trading Hali, or Vivek told him to.
That answer depends on to whom you talk.
James Hams’ sources say that Fox wasn’t a consideration for the Pacers. It only worked for Hali.
Dlo and KC say they have spoken to folks who say the Pacers were interested in either Hali or Fox, suggesting that the Kings prioritized Fox when the deal was made.
That last sentence makes me not super chill
It’s very hard to build a solid foundation when the organization is rotten at the core.
You basically need a few strokes of luck in sequence and just enough smarts not to screw them up. I find it hard to see that happening here.
The Sacramento fanbase and media outlets need to go ruthlessly after Vivek in such a way that he steps away (even if he retains control). I know that likely won’t happen, since many fans are just happy that the city has a team and some even view him as a saviour. And Doug and Bonny are the coaches, so we have to show the team support, right? RIGHT?
Speaking of rotten at the core. The Mavs were gifted the number one pick and a generational talent months after making the dumbest trade of all time, given how dumb our owner is, I think we deserve the same.
Yup. And the Cavs got a ring despite themselves.
Skill > luck, but luck is important in the NBA too!
Indeed, we even lucked into Luka and simply bypassed him for a player that doesn’t fit in today’s NBA. That’s when luck and stupidity collide and create a dumb move.
Sums up 95% of the Divac moves
Those who didn’t like the trade when it happened, nor liked the trade the last couple years even after the LTB season were constantly shat on on this site.
Both Sabonis and Hali are great players, but one is a winning player and the other is not, their career success, specifically in the playoffs speaks to that.
It was a dumb trade at the time (pretty much all NBA nerds denounced the trade from the King’s side) and looks horrible now.
As an aside, we could and should have Fox and Hali as our core right now. The idea that two ball dominant players can’t play along one another is absurd. It’s apparently why Vlade didn’t take Luka, and how did that turn out. A team like the Kings is in no position to be worrying about fit, the objective for a small market team is to obtain top tier talent, hold on to that talent and figure the rest out after.
And fk Vivek.
Agreed with most points, with the exception of building around Fox and Hali.
Fox should be maybe your 3rd or 4th best player imo. Maybe an unpopular opinion, but that’s likely where he’ll end up on the Spurs. In a couple years when they are relevant, it will be Wemby, Castle, #2 pick… then maybe Fox.
At the time I remember hearing Fox for Randle was a possibility. If that’s the case, it would have been MUCH better to build around Hali and Randle… maybe they still get Keegan, and swing a Siakam-style trade after that.
Bottom line is that it was obvious it was a dumb trade at the time. And the only people still defending it are Kings fans.
I never liked the Halliburton trade or the Huerter trade. A little more patience and we could have had a nice young roster,
Another short-sighted move to end the playoff drought, no matter the cost.
Probably a mandate straight from the top.
Agree. Absolutely could co-exist. I never liked the trade because they got rid of shooting for non shooters and got rid of their best player.
and fuck vivek is right. It’s so disheartening watching Hali and seeing what this owner has done to Sac.
I have the same grade for this trade now as I did after it happened: C
Trading Hali was an F and trading for Domas was an A, which averages out to a C. I will always love Fox but even then, like a lot of Kings fans, there was a strong feeling of packaging whatever first rounders we could with Fox to get Domas. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered because IND only wanted Hali no matter what. Also, we most likely wouldn’t have Keegan. But to have Hali and Domas as our cornerstone, franchise players is a move smart organizations would sell the farm to make happen.
Always rooting for Hali, but in terms of watching former Kings succeed this is unchartered territory for me. I’m sure the Gods will curse us with an IND vs SA Finals next year…
It was an F at the time and it’s an F now.
Hali is in back to back ECF’s, we haven’t even won a playoff series.
At the end of the day, winning is the objective and the barometer of success in the NBA (except in Vivek’s mind).
You are soooooo correct and it’s obvious.
The move itself isn’t an F but as a Kings fan I understand your frustration. Pacers aren’t where they are right now without trading for Nesmith and Siakam. Both of those trades happened after the Hali trade. Your F grade is an assessment of the Kings organization, not the Domas trade.
I hated the trade when it was made and I hate it now. The trade was an F and the King’s org is an F. Both things can be true.
They certainly can be. I agree with you on the organization being an F, just not the trade. If we also had Siakam and Nesmith we would be a much better team.
Don’t use logic . Some have no interest in it .
A good recap and yes the Haliburton trade was the wrong move. I do take exception to this however.
Their reward was an incredibly tough matchup against the battle-tested defending champion Golden State Warriors that went 7 games before Stephen Curry went nuclear.
The 3 seed season was a little flukey. Often teams were sitting there best player against us and drawing the Warriors wasn’t a bad break. The Warriors went on to lose decisively in the next round so the Kings really were not competitive beyond round 1.
What to do now is something management won’t do. Tear it down and take 4 years to build back better through the draft, and trades for young prospects many which have been mentioned. Even when OKC was losing I never did not enjoy watching them. Let’s get going with the rebuild by dumping salary, picking if draft capital and taking a flyer on a couple of young guys. I mentioned interest in Watson, Strawther and Kuminga but there are others.
I like the trade someone mentioned with Milwaukee which get us cheaper faster and picks up a draft pick and gets us away from LaVine and DDR.
I agree they need to tear it down. The start of that should have been with the Fox trade yet they chose to make a win now move, so no way they tear it down, it’ll be more side ways moves as long as Vivek is in charge.
I’m afraid you’re right.
The “Chicago West” thing isn’t just about having former Bulls players. It’s also about being stuck in NBA purgatory and not being willing get bad to gather assets.
I’ve listened to countless NBA pods the last few months and anytime the Kings are discussed, the hosts just laugh at how dumb this franchise is for creating CHI west. It truly is comical and sad.
Good point about the “Beam Team” season being a fluke.
We won 48 games that year. Which would have been an 8 seed this year. It was a down year for the West, and we still lost to the better team in the Warriors.
We were always going to top out at 1st round exit after the Hali trade.
We also had amazing injury luck that year while other teams were badly hurt.
That should have been taken into account as part of a fair and ruthless analysis of the success of that season, but they decided to just congratulate themselves and basically run it back the next year.
I’m happy for Haliburton because he doesn’t have to play for this dysfunctional organization. I’m happy for Fox because he no longer has to play for this dysfunctional organization. I will be happy for Sabonis when he’s gone. Ditto for Keegan Murray and Keon Ellis. None of these guys deserve the mess that is the Kings.
Vivek will continue to destroy every single good thing about this organization as long as he remains in charge. I asked the question years ago if we’d ever make the playoffs under Vivek’s leadership. Some folks scoffed at that and while we did have everything break right and get lucky one time, it’s pretty obvious we’re going to settle into another nice long playoff drought. These people are too incompetent and the league is too competitive for there to be any other outcome. It’s incredible sad. These fools have sapped every ounce of joy and affection I’ve had for the Kings.
Watching these playoffs has reminded me how much I love basketball. I think I’ll just go on being a general NBA fan for the time being because I just can’t stomach anymore of the necrotic culture that Vivek has foisted upon the city of Sacramento.
I was fine with the trade at first. I saw the vision. After that Beam Team year, the moves just stopped making sense. Had they brought in more complimentary talent to fill the holes in the roster, I think the team would have performed much better in the 23-24 season, and the 24-25 season.
Nearly every move after drafting Murray, trading for Huerter, and signing Monk were bad moves (until they got LaRavia and JV, which filled holes). Just seemed like Monte/Vivek didn’t have a plan after the 22-23 season on how to sustain a winning team.
Now here we are in 2025, still needing length and defense at the 3/4 (and a PG, smh). I will always be cautiously optimistic about the Kings. I will look at moves with some hope, knowing that the probability of them working out will be slim. It’s been the Kings way for years now.
I feel like the team got tired of Brown constantly in their ear. He broke Huerter and to a lesser extent Murray. I think a lot of the Christie bounce was a positive new voice to replace the constant nitpicking.
Similar situation with the Denver coaching change, IMO.
I understood it. I never thought that Domas was a crap return or anything, thus felt it to be a fair deal. But I absolutely hated the team building concept.
I have plenty of receipts (maybe it would be “fun” for the site to repost those threads in their entirety! lol), but the bottom line is that I hated trading a young player at a position and with a skill set better suited for the modern NBA. Shooting and playmaking. That’s the modern game in a nut shell. We are seeing that play out with Hali in real time.
Fox and Haliburton was not a successful pairing in the win column. At that time there was Coach Luke Walton followed by Coach Alvin Gentry. The Game 1 starting frontcourt was Richaun Holmes, Mo Harkless and Harrison Barnes, and a 30 win season saw lineups with starters like Marvin Bagley, Buddy Hield, Terrence Davis, and Chimezie Metu
This was before the trade that off loaded Buddy and Bagley, in a classic, let’s move the mistakes strategy. And to cover that move, they needed more. A lot more. Boldly, that meant a revamped roster. To acquire a much needed frontcourt player, they got Sabonis – a two time All-Star and a super complimentary player who rebounded, assisted, scored underneath and played his ass off.
De’Aaron wasn’t making enough noise around the League. He was signed to the big extension, not undeservingly, but because he was the Kings only draft asset. They had no choice but to extend him. Vlade’s explanation to not draft Luka was because oof Fox (how stupid can you be, to not take the 2nd player in a “two player draft”. The answer, Kangz stupid). Fox was considered a Kings contract signing. That left Ty Haliburton, who was not starting at the time of the trade, and to add, there was rookie Davion Mitchell at the same position.
We can cry over the spilt milk of Tyrese Haliburton, but Domas is not a consolation prize in my book.
As Rob and others have mentioned – it is the roster after the trade that soured the punch bowl. Mike Brown produced an 18 game improvement with his roster that first year. Circumstances what they were, perhaps the biggest fly in the soup was that they overachieved so mightily, so beyond expectation, that they believed that another year with the same group made sense. If the won 11 games and finished .500? who knows?
Not trading Harrison Barnes made sense that Summer (signed an extension). Did not trading Kevin Huerter after the awful playoffs and continued awful pre-deadline shooting make sense. I consider the Sasha experiment just a failed try, he wasn’t awful but used poorly, like Mike Brown didn’t want him on the team, IMO. Giving a new team to Davion Mitchell made sense. What they did to off load those two was awful.
The woulda shoulda coulda review can take many forms. We know so little on the behind the scenes goings on that maybe Mike Brown wasn’t the problem.
The defining leadership of Vivek and Matina is, and will always be, the reference point for this team, just as it was with the Maloofs.
This is a whole new script for this team now. New GM. New Assistant GM. New Head Coach. New Lead Assistant (Associate) Coach. I don’t expect anything good to come of it, but I will gladly sit on the sidelines with this community and see how it goes.
Well said.
I’d just like to point out that no one, and I mean no one, here was complaining about the Hali/Sabonis trade the season after it happened. The Kings won 48 games and were the #3 seed. Indy won 35 games.
Fast forward two years and a ton of bad moves by the Kings and some excellent moves by the Pacers are now we find ourselves here today. IMO, anyone complaining about the Hali trade because Indy is in again in the ECF and the Kings are going no where fast are just pointing out the seeds in a rather large pile of shit. Sure, it’s a something to complain about, but everything else around it are the bigger issues.
IDK. I am sure I made some comments to the contrary.
*almost no one*
(is this better? … for 1,950 others…)
Same here. Not everyone was bamboozled by the LTB season.
As I noted when the trade was made –
For me, the true opportunity was and always will be right after Vivek bought the team. He bought years of goodwill when he saved the team. At that point he should have sold Cousins, Thomas, Tyreke Evans and anyone else that would have fetched any semblance of draft picks and workable cap space. He should have retained Petrie for at least the teardown, and traded out of upcoming draft picks for more draft picks. The team would have sold out ARCO for its final two years, and would have sold out G1C for its first two years solely on the goodwill and the promise of a young, exciting team on the horizon. But hubris won out and the Kings (and its fans) lost out.
Social media is a hilarious place. But for the fortuitous bounce of a desperation shot, the conversation as it pertains to the Domas / Hali trade could be entirely different today. But it bounced in, so the Hali Louyahs lord over the Hali nos today. And none of this changes who the Sacramento Kings are today. An organization that can’t build around the fringes of Sabonis and Fox certainly lacks the dexterity to build from scratch around Haliburton. Lest we forget, the Kings drafted Davion Mitchell when they had both Fox and Haliburton on the roster.
And 1 – And this gets back to Akis’ point, none of this is a conversation point if (a) the Pacers don’t do a great job of building with/around Hali while (b) the Kings spit the bit with/around Domas. Level up both teams with similar deals (good or bad) after the trade and I’m not sure that there is much to talk about. Give the Kings Siakam (while retaining Fox) and give the Pacers DDR and the narrative shifts more than a little bit.
And 2 – I really think that the issue with the Kings at this point is that ownership does not want to spend beyond their set budget, and that especially includes investing in their best players. I don’t think that Fox was dealt because they didn’t want to pay him the 3rd contract max. I think that he was dealt because they don’t want to pay anyone the 3rd contract max, much less the supermax. And that is a tough parameter to overcome when your organization is not all that smart in the first place.
You mean like getting Dedmon.
Solid points all around, Rob. Especially as to your “And 2.” That’s what worries me now that it is time to extend Keegan. There is not much room below the tax and the Kings need to decide to extend him now, or let him hit RFA. I fear for the latter.
Is Keon a RFA in 2026 if the team decides to pick up his team option for next season? Wonder what the chances are they’d decline and then work out an extension this summer.
I believe so, but 100% sure. I don’t believe he is extension eligible right now, but I do think they get his bird rights if his TO is picked up this summer, since that would be a third season.
Maybe there is a situation where they don’t pick up his TO and he signs a longer deal, but wouldn’t that then make him a UFA? Seems risky if so.
Ah, I wasn’t sure what his status would be if the team declined his TO. I guess we will see what happens.
Heh, but they have no issue giving overlapping coaches one to two year contracts and then giving them two years of paid vacation time. 😉
True that. Best gig in the NBA.
You could have stopped at
-the issue with the Kings at this point (and always) is the owner.
I was I felt the Kings capped out and that team wasn’t that good. They didn’t make it out of the first round. They went with the sugar high plan and it has failed.
I made comments against the trade too. I loved Hali and thought it was stupid to give up shooting for non shooters.
Shit-I argued Hali was the best player in that draft -as a rookie.
Others were anti the trade to I believe.
We often complain about getting picked on by the national media, but they pick on us because we do stupid shit over and over again, going against the grain and lacking in any process, while acting like we are smarter than everyone else. The trade was questionable at the time, and a clear failure now. Vivek is the poster child for the Dunning-Kruger effect.
Sabonis is a fun regular season player who plays poorly in the playoffs. He should be the 3rd best player on a contender, and surrounded by guys who cover for his defensive weaknesses and complement his unique offensive skillset.
Halliburton is a guy who can lead teams to conference finals.
Then how come Hali didn’t lead the Pacer to the ECF two years ago, let alone to the playoffs? He didn’t do anything in Indy until Pascal arrived and others found their role. IMO, The Pacers surrounded Hali with players that make the sum greater than their parts. They are maximizing Hali. In Sac, however, they have done the exact opposite with Sabonis. They have now minimized his strengths, even though they had more talent on paper than they’ve had in decades, and yet fell flat on their faces. It’s like they put team together based on their fantasy stats.
I am of the opinion it’s not who won the Hali/Sabonis trade, it’s who built the correctly around those guys after the trade. The Kings failed in that regard while the Pacers excelled.
Hali can when surrounded by a lot of talent . He didn’t until Pacers GM made some great additions. Toppin, Siakim, Nesmith. Nemhard all added after Hali . Just stating facts .
Remember the good old days (3 months ago) when some people were wondering how long it would take everyone to hurry up and get over the Fox trade?
Lol!
Interesting draft related note I just read on the webs:
Charlotte Hornets have traded away two MVPs on draft night (and both to Los Angeles)
1996 – Kobe Bryant (Lakers, Vlade Divac)
2018 – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Hornets 11th for LAC 12th (Miles Bridges) and two 2nd rounders
See, Vlade was involved in another draft debacle as well
Zach Lowe show today, talking about Kings offseason. “Bulls 2.0” Sabonis trades.
Talking about Keegan extension. Over/Under 30 mil starting.
The guest thinks there’s not a market for Sabonis. Talking LaVine extension. Ugh.
I work for a giant dysfunctional organization which is not the Sacramento Kings.
One thing I have observed and believe to be true about the Kangz is that much like the company I work for, leaders within large organizations rarely have the desire/ability to allow competent and knowledgeable individuals to execute their roles without interference. Instead they build around them a cadre of people who only are trying to promote their own careers, and see a pathway to that goal by becoming “yes men” to the boss.
Honesty and self-reflection about past failures and their root causes are infrequent and rarely genuine, and instead of adjusting course management doubles down on failed approaches because they believe themselves to be smarter than everyone else. That perception is reinforced by the “yes men” they have intentionally placed around them.
It’s nearly impossible to correct that without a massive change at the top of the organization. As a lifelong Kings fan and current employee at a like-minded organization it’s hard to see much reason for hope.
To me this where Kings and Pacers paths diverted. The Kings were supposed to make roster moves but held off pursing this trade. If I remember correctly, they had a deal but Pascal Siakam said he would not resign with the Kings and Anunoby had previously made that clear.
Another difference, making the Conference Finals in the East is like getting to the 2nd Rnd in Western Conference playoffs.
Yeah, lets re-hash a trade made several years ago by a different front office…this’ll be fun and constructive.
Well, you are always invited to create different content.
Just want to say “excellent article”.
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