2 Years Later: Who won the Pacers-Kings Tyrese Haliburton-Domantas Sabonis trade?

The 2024 NBA trade deadline has come and gone. This deadline was quite different from last season's, as while the Indiana Pacers didn't make any blockbuster moves such as the Pascal Siakam trade the month before, they were still decently active in the market, notably trading Buddy Hield away in a three-team deal to land Doug McDermott and two second-round picks.

Overall, it was a pretty underwhelming deadline in general, as the biggest move was perhaps Bojan Bogdanović being dealt to the New York Knicks in a move that perhaps makes the Knicks the second-best team in the East.

With all these underwhelming moves being made, I’d like to harken back to the 2022 trade deadline for a bit and revisit perhaps the second biggest move made that year and one of the biggest moves in Pacers history, which was of course the trade that sent Tyrese Haliburton to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Domantas Sabonis to the Sacramento Kings.

I’d like to talk about this trade for two reasons: one, because this trade changed both Indiana’s and Sacramento’s fortunes for the foreseeable future, and two because it is the two-year anniversary of this trade, and it is something worthy to mention as Indiana continues to reap the fruits of Haliburton's labor.

The Trade:

Indiana got: Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, and Tristan Thompson

Sacramento got: Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb, Domantas Sabonis, and a 2023 2nd-round pick

While the trade was clearly a bit more for Haliburton for Hield straight up, as Indiana also got Buddy Hield, who they got two productive years out of before dealing him to Philadelphia in a deal where they received Doug McDermott in return, this will only focus on Haliburton, Sabonis, and the fortunes of both teams since the trade.

At first, the reaction to this trade mostly consisted of shock that Sacramento would part with their young point guard this early and admiration for Indiana, who many said, and some still say to this day, fleeced the Kings.

However, it’s been two years since that trade, and some opinions have changed, for better or for worse. Let’s do a deep dive into this trade, look at the pros and cons of both teams, and ultimately find out who “won” the trade so far.