It goes something like this, late last night, the Kings and the Pacers made a deal that many fans have been unable to understand so far, and the specific deal is as follows:
— The Pacers sent Sabonis Jr., Jerry Miranim, Justin Holliday and a 2027 second-round pick
— The King sends Buddy Hilde, Halliburton, tristan Thompson
After the deal was reached, the Kings fans on foreign basketball forums were probably like this, all kinds of words that began with F, presumably we don't need to explain that everyone knows it.
And in ESPN's review, the Pacers received an A rating and the King rated only D.
Let's talk about the deal itself.
For the Pacers, the outside world knows that they have gone to rebuild, and many of the team's main players have already been put on the trading shelf, just before they sent LeVert away, and now sending away little Sabonis is also expected.
Sabonis Jr. averaged 18.9 points, 12.1 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game this season, shooting 58.0% from the field, shooting 32.4% from three-point range, and shooting 64.9% from the field.
However, the shortcoming of Sabonis Jr. is that his influence on the game is a bit insufficient, not to mention the mess this year, taking the Pacers almost into the playoffs last season, Sabonis Jr. played the peak and was selected as an All-Star, but:
When he was on the floor, the Pacers scored 109.6 points/111.5 points per 100 possessions, netting 1.9 points against their opponents
He wasn't on the floor, and the Pacers scored 113.8 points/109.9 points per 100 possessions, outscoring their opponents by 3.9 points
That's why Sabonis Jr. hasn't been able to get a head start, his stats are good, but combined defensively and other aspects of his performance, it seems a little difficult to lead the team far.
As for the other two chips sent away, Jerry Milam has fallen badly this year, averaging 7.1 points per game and shooting 37.3% of the film at a six-year low, which is a premium expiring contract (11 million) - in exchange for Thompson also belongs to the expiry premium contract (9.72 million), which is a tie, Justin Holladay is a good role player, with a certain amount of immediate combat strength, and there are 6.29 million left in the contract next season.
Speaking of kings, the main purpose of their deal was Sabonis Jr., and they asked for two instant powers to hit the playoffs, which was a good idea, but they actually sent Harry Burton away.
Hield, who has averaged 14.4 points per game this season, is one of the league's top scorers and has had the following three points over the past four seasons:
- In the 2018-19 season, he averaged 3.4 three-pointers per game and shot 42.7% from the field.
- In the 2019-20 season, he averaged 3.8 three-pointers per game and shot 39.4% from the field.
- In the 2020-21 season, he averaged 4.0 three-pointers per game and shot 39.1% from the field.
- In the 2021-22 season, he averaged 3.3 three-pointers per game and shot 36.8% from the field.
Hield's efficiency isn't particularly good, with less than 55 percent of his true shooting percentage this season, and his contract reaching 106 million in four years (expiring in the summer of 2024), so Hield is essentially a premium contract, but, given the emphasis on shooters in this era, the Pacers can continue to send him away and maybe get back another first round.
The focus of the deal is on Halliburton.
This season, Halliburton has played in 51 games for the Kings, averaging 14.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.7 steals, 0.7 blocks, 45.7%/41.3%/83.7% of the three shots, and 57.5% of the true shooting rate.
A few stats to get a feel for how good Halliburton is:
— With a total of 93 players who have made at least 300 jump shots this season, Haliburton ranks sixth in effective shooting at 58.7 percent.
— A total of 49 players have shot at least 100 dribble-free three-pointers this season, with Halliburton shooting 40.6 percent, in second place
— Halliburton's three-point shooting percentage is 42.6%
— Halliburton ranks 11th in the league in assists
— Halliburton ranks 12th in the league in terms of steals
Harry Burton was only 21 years old
Haliburton has averaged 76.6 touches per game this season and held the ball for 5.5 minutes, ranking second on both sides of the team and only below Fox.
The difference between the two is that Fox's performance this year has slipped, averaging 25.2 points and 7.2 assists last season and 21.0 points and 5.2 assists this season, so it's not an exaggeration, Haliburton is the boss of the Kings now — maybe we should change our words to the boss of the Pacers.
This is also where most fans do not understand, originally thought that Halliburton has become the king's core and non-selling products, the result of turning around just cultivated and sold, the fact is also, there is news that many of the league executives, coaches did not realize that the original Halliburton can be traded.
Interestingly, even Halliburton himself was shocked, and it is reported that when he learned that he had been traded to the Pacers, Halliburton was shocked - looking at the deal again, leaving the King is not necessarily a bad thing.