Tyrese Haliburton could have been a star in San Antonio had the organization called his name in the first round of the 2020 draft. Instead, the Spurs chose Devin Vassell with the 11th pick, and Haliburton was taken by Sacramento with the 12th pick. In true Kings fashion, they traded Haliburton to the Pacers for Domantas Sabonis, and the rest is history, but it never should have gotten to that point.
Voted the most overrated player in the NBA by his peers, Haliburton has been proving that's far from the truth. He's been a star in the playoffs, coming up big in the clutch game after game. He's had huge scoring nights, and his cold-blooded demeanor allows him to execute down the stretch of games.
You can call this revisionist history if you'd like, but the fact is that the front office's job is to get the best talent possible for the team. When you miss out on what turned out to be an all-star, All-NBA player at a similar position to the one you drafted, you deserve some criticism.
Haliburton was ranked higher than Vassell
There's a misconception that Hali is strictly a point guard, but that's not true. He's a combo guard, meaning he thrives off the ball as well as on it. The notion that the Spurs shouldn't have drafted him because they needed a wing who could defend with potential to add a potent three-point shot, so that disqualified Tyrese, is nonsense.
The scouting report on the versatile guard out of Iowa State was that he could do both. His three-point percentage in college was over 42%. There was doubt that he could maintain it because of his awkward shooting form, but obviously those concerns were misplaced because he shot 40% as a rookie, and stayed above that line for the next four years.
His percentage from deep dipped in the last two seasons, but we're talking about 37% last season and 39% this year. The Pacers' star guard shot 43% on catch-and-shoot three-point attempts. He was ranked higher than Vassell on every big board you came across.
One Haliburton description said that he, "doesn’t actually need to be a full-time point guard to wind up as one of the best players in this draft...His real value lies in what his presence does for everyone else on the floor, as a ball-moving facilitator who hits open threes and can augment any lineup." - Jeremy Woo
Now, had they drafted Haliburton, would they still have been in a position to draft Victor Wembanyama? Possibly. As long as they still got rid of everyone else, ie, DeMar DeRozan, Dejounte Murray, and Derrick White, they still could have tanked—especially if Hali agreed to a wink-wink injury.
He's turned into a star while Spurs fans are fighting over whether Dev deserves to stay on the team or not. It's not ideal.
Watching the Indy hooper making these crazy plays gets me thinking about what could have been. He's such a gifted passer. Pairing him with Wembanyama would form one of the deadliest duos in the NBA. Oh well. We can dream.