Adrian Wojnarowski dropped one of his Twitter famous “Woj bombs” hours ago, reporting that the Sacramento Kings are sending Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, and Tristian Thompson to Indiana in exchange for Domantas Sabonis, Justin Holiday, and Jeremy Lamb. This move shows us that the Kings plan to compete for a play-in spot and are “win now” mode, while the Pacers make a move to get younger and escape the purgatory that is the 4/5 seed.
Sacramento rarely hits on their draft picks. Tyrese Haliburton was one of their few home runs, so it was a shock to see him be dealt away like that. Playing in his 2nd year, at 21 years old, he has proven that he could be the foundational piece to a rebuild in Sacramento. The question is, how long would that rebuild take before the Kings are truly competitive? With this move, it’s hard to argue that the Kings won’t at least compete for a playoff spot, but at the same time, the ceiling just got a lot lower. It's hard to say what the King's long term expectations are, but short term, they want to be a playoff team. This franchise currently holds the longest active playoff drought and are in desperate need of a winning culture. Could this move backfire down the road? No doubt.
Indiana had found themselves in an difficult spot after PG’s departure. The team was good every year, but never an actual threat to contend. There will be some initial regression after losing an all star caliber player in Domantas Sabonis, but the future is bright. Shortly after breaking the news of the trade, Woj also commented on Pacer's center Myles Turner and his thoughts on Tyrese coming to Indiana. Woj said, "Turner gets to play center now and appears thrilled with the idea of playing with Haliburton." What center wouldn't want to play with a playmaking guard like Tyrese, who just dished 17 assists in his last game in Sacramento?