Trades are part of the business in the NBA.
But that doesn’t make it easy on players involved in the transactions, especially young ones like Tyrese Haliburton.
The Kings made the biggest move of the NBA trade deadline week thus far Tuesday, sending Haliburton, Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Domantas Sabonis, Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb and a 2023 second-round draft pick.
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The swap caught Haliburton’s teammates a bit by surprise, but the veterans were there to give the 21-year-old some advice about life in the NBA.
“It was right before, I guess, everything went out, Tyrese texts the group,” Fox said after Sacramento’s 134-114 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night. “And everybody’s like, ‘Ah, you’re capping, you’re lying.’ And I said, ‘Why ya’ll listening to them?’ And then, bam, it comes out. It’s like, ‘wow.’”
Fox said he spoke with the second-year guard for 30 minutes after the news broke.
“You build relationships with people,” Fox continued. “Those are big things that happen in sports. He understood what it was. It’s basketball. Some of the best players in the world have gotten traded in all types of sports, so he understood.”
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After finishing third in last season’s Rookie of the Year voting, Haliburton was hitting his stride with the Kings, averaging 14.3 points, 7.4 assists and 1.7 steals in 51 games this season. He posted a career-best 17 assists against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday, which ended up being his Kings finale.
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“For somebody like Tyrese, it’s tough,” fellow veteran Harrison Barnes said. “To be a young guy, coming off the game he just had too especially, it just hit us tough. It was an emotional day. It was tough to see guys who you become really close to leave, but that’s just part of the business.”
Haliburton will pair with Malcolm Brogdon in the Pacers' backcourt.
“Indiana is definitely getting a good one,” Fox said. “They’re getting a great one. But he’s ready to go there and take over. … They just traded Caris [LeVert] and Malcolm [Brogdon] is out so Tyrese has a big, big, big, big opportunity. He’s a big-time player. He’s going to go there and seize every opportunity he’s given.
“That’s definitely a guy that you miss.”