thelesterlee
For weeks there were reports saying the Sacramento Kings were shopping De’Aaron Fox because their second-year point guard, Tyrese Haliburton, had emerged as the superior player and leader of any future the team hoped to build.
Jeremy Lamb AND Justin Holiday. https://t.co/0GbRwKcRBP
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 8, 2022
Andddddd Haliburton is gone. Ok.
The 21-year old is averaging 14.3 points and 7.4 assists while shooting 41% from 3 on 5 attempts a game. On a rookie deal showing he’s improving every game and the Kings sent him to Indiana for Domantas Sabonis. Ok.
Here’s Tyrese only a month ago saying he wants to help build the Kings:
“I’m a member of the Sacramento Kings so I’m gonna help fix this. It ain’t gonna be in a day but ima be here and we’re gonna make it work I promise that.”
– Tyrese Haliburton last month 😢
(h/t @AhnFireDigital) pic.twitter.com/UEvzU8JSpd— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) February 8, 2022
NO ONE wants to play in Sacramento. The organization finally drafts a kid with the desire to stay and the skills to actually bring fans to the arena and win games. Naturally, you have to trade that player for Jeremy fucking Lamb.
Oh, and the Kings added Buddy Hield to the deal as a little treat for Indiana. So Haliburton shooting 41% from 3 and Hield shooting 36% from 3. Gone. De’Aaron Fox shooting 24% from 3 and Sabonis joining the squad shooting 32% from 3. This team is going to be outscored by like, 75 points every night.
We really have to start asking what’s going on in Sacramento. You could make the argument they were losing on purpose in order to secure higher draft picks and build a talented young core but they just gave away the player with the highest upside.
So now we have to look at Kings owner, Vivek Ranadivé. The only thing I know about him is from a Malcolm Gladwell book about Ranadivé coaching his daughter’s middle school team. They won games because he called a full-court press on 11-year old girls who didn’t know how to dribble. Dick.
The NBA needs to look into his financial records. The Kings winning seems to be the least important thing in the world to him. In fact, the Kings winning might be a bad thing for a guy trying to hide something. Smart move to trade any player capable of getting too much spotlight on the franchise.
The Sacramento Kings are a front. Marty Byrde is in that front office washing the hell out of Ranadivé’s cash.
