Sacramento Kings Haunted by Past Mistake as De'Aaron Fox Faces Trade Rumors

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By JH Kubicek | Last updated Jan 29, 2025 11:40 AM ET

On Tuesday, multiple outlets reported that the Sacramento Kings were shopping De'Aaron Fox, and the All-Star point guard wanted to be traded, specifically, to the San Antonio Spurs.

In his eight seasons with the Kings, Fox has made the playoffs only once and got bounced in the first round. Despite trading for Domantas Sabonis in 2022, the Kings have only that first-round exit under their belt, and despite adding DeMar DeRozan this summer, the Kings look poised for another early end to their season.

It's hard to blame Fox for wanting out, but at the same time, the Kings have committed to him and the loyalty clearly hasn't been mutual.

Fox's trade request should remind fans of a past mistake the organization made.

The Kings Never Should Have Traded Tyrese Haliburton

In 2022, the Kings traded promising young point guard Tyrese Haliburton to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Domantas Sabonis in what seemed like the rare win-win NBA deadline deal.

The Pacers got a possible franchise piece and the Kings added a talented big man to their existing cast, which heavily featured Fox.

Since the Kings picked Fox over Haliburton, both have a single All-NBA selection and Haliburton has two All-Star appearances to Fox's one. Haliburton is clearly a better floor general and distributor, but Fox is a better scorer and defender.

Fox and Haliburton's Stats - Last Three Seasons

Player	PPG	APG	RPG	SPG	3PT%	DWS	VORP
De'Aaron Fox	25.7	6.0	4.5	1.6	34.5%	6.4	7.2
Tyrese Haliburton	19.8	10.2	3.7	1.3	37.6%	3.7	11.7

During the 2022 trade deadline, it's unclear if Haliburton conveyed to the Kings that he wanted to stay in Sacramento long-term. The Kings opted to speed up their timeline by replacing him with Sabonis, and immediately made the playoffs the next year. In the seasons after that, the Kings took a skid, and it's becoming increasingly clear that trading Fox and embracing a Haliburton-led rebuild would have been the better option.

As the Kings shop Fox around on the trade market, they might try and continue to win with Sabonis, DeRozan, and Malik Monk, once again avoiding a rebuild and remaining a perfectly forgettable NBA franchise.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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