NBA Trade Rumors: Kings Wanted To Keep Tyrese Haliburton, Not De'Aaron Fox

Back when the Sacramento Kings had a backcourt starting duo of Tyrese Haliburton and De'Aaron Fox, they were looking to hand the point guard keys to just one of them, while dealing the other to land themselves a star big man. In 2022, we're learning now, it was Fox whom they were hoping to trade, while building around Haliburton. But they simply couldn't find a taker (at a reasonable return) for Fox.

According to Sam Amick in The Athletic, Fox's trade value had tanked, leaving them with no choice but to trade Haliburton to the Indiana Pacers instead.

(In 2022,) Haliburton became the focal point of (Sacramento's) rebuilding efforts. League sources say the Kings explored trades involving Fox, who had recently signed a five-year, $160 million deal, but simply didn’t find a suitable return.

At the time of the trade, Haliburton was showing clear signs of being an exciting floor general, averaging 7.4 assists while shooting over 41% from three-point range. Fox was averaging 5.1 assists with a 24.8% mark from beyond the arc.

Pacers had no interest in Fox, wanted Haliburton from Sacramento

"The discussions with the Pacers, league sources say, were two-pronged but quickly turned from Fox to Haliburton when it was clear that was the only real avenue to a deal," continued Amick. In return, the Pacers sent All-Star center Domantas Sabonis, Jeremy Lamb, Justin Holiday and a 2027 second-round pick to the Kings in exchange for Haliburton, Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson.

The Kings stuck it out with Fox, who, to be fair, led them on a nice run to a 3-seed in the 2022-23 season with 48 wins, and Fox won the NBA Clutch Player of the Year Award. But they lost in the first round of the playoffs, and haven't been back to the postseason in the two years since.

This year, it got to the point where Fox asked out of Sacramento, and was traded to the San Antonio Spurs in February.

Haliburton, meanwhile, has turned into the team leader the Pacers were hoping for, and has them three wins away from an NBA championship (heading into Sunday's Game 2).