‘Perfect place for me’: Did Tyrese Haliburton orchestrate his own fall to Kings at No. 12?
New Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton would not confirm reports he orchestrated his own fall down the draft board to land in Sacramento, but he isn’t disputing it either.
ESPN analysts Zach Lowe and Jonathan Givony discussed the topic Thursday on the “Lowe Post” podcast, saying Haliburton’s camp might have dissuaded other teams from picking him so the Kings could select him with the No. 12 pick in Wednesday’s NBA Draft. Haliburton was asked about those reports twice during a Zoom call with reporters Thursday afternoon.
“I don’t know about all the behind the scenes stuff that really goes on,” Haliburton said. “But I do know that Sacramento was a perfect place for me and somewhere that we really looked at and thought it would be a perfect fit, somewhere where we felt I would have an opportunity right away.
“… Sacramento is a place that I wanted to be and here I am, and I’m really ecstatic about it. It’s really exciting for me and my family. I can’t wait to get started, and like I’ve mentioned before, I feel like this is the perfect fit for me and I love it here. I’m just ready to get to work.”
A number of draft analysts wondered how Haliburton, a highly rated 6-foot-5 point guard from Iowa State, slipped to No. 12 Wednesday. Haliburton, 20, was the third-ranked point guard and fifth-ranked player in the draft, according to Tankathon.com, but he fell into Sacramento’s hands after some surprising selections in the top 10.
Lowe and Givony said other teams were interested in Haliburton. They also mentioned Deni Avdija, who fell to the Washington Wizards at No. 9. Lowe and Givony said the Dallas Mavericks tried to trade up because “they were hot on Haliburton,” but the former Iowa State star ended up in Sacramento instead.
“People are like, ‘How did Haliburton fall so far? How did Avdija fall so far?’” Givony said. “A lot of this was by design. The consistent theme that I kept hearing in the predraft process from agents was, ‘I hate the teams that are drafting in the top 10. I don’t want my guys with any of those franchises.’
“And so they were very selective with who got medicals and they were openly telling teams, ‘Don’t take my guy, please.’ So I think that is a big reason why Haliburton ended up going 12th. He could have gone sixth, I think, had he wanted to, but he was open to, you know, ‘Let me sacrifice seven, eight million dollars, because I think it’s going to end up working out for me in the long term in Sacramento.’ And Zach, how many times can you say a player wants to go to Sacramento? It’s incredible.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2020 at 3:44 PM.
