Kings acquire Domantas Sabonis, send Tyrese Haliburton to Pacers in six-player trade that shocked the NBA world

Well that wasn’t expected…

Kings sophomore guard Tyrese Haliburton was poised to be the future of the franchise, and had recently expressed his desire to be the one to finally lead the team out of the NBA’s basement. Well yesterday everything changed.

In a massive deal just says before the NBA Trade Deadline, the Kings traded Haliburton along with guard Buddy Hield and veteran big man Tristan Thompson to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for All-Star forward Domantas Sabonis,  Jeremy Lamb, Justin Holiday and a 2023 second-round draft pick.

Rising star Tyrese Haliburton has averaged 14.3 points, 7.4 assists (ranked 11th in the NBA), 3.9 rebounds and is 1.7 steals (tied for 6th in the NBA) over a span of 51 games this season.

“(Haliburton is) an elite young point guard that affects the game positively in many, many ways. We’re getting three players who are good now and in the case of Tyrese, he has a chance to continue to grow…Finding a franchise-caliber point guard at age 21 is extremely difficult to do.” said Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle.

Sabonis – who is the key player heading back to Sacramento – has put up impressive numbers this season, averaging 18.9 points, 12.1 rebounds, and 5.0 assists through 47 games.