Tyrese Haliburton draft revisited: Why Knicks decided to pass over Pacers star in 2020 NBA Draft

Tyrese Haliburton’s last two playoff runs have cemented him in NBA history, but he wasn’t expected to reach these heights.

After a solid, two-year career at Iowa State, Haliburton entered the 2020 NBA Draft as a potential lottery pick. The point guard would fall to the 12th pick, where the Kings ended his slide by drafting him to pair next to De’Aaron Fox.

Haliburton had a strong rookie season, but that didn’t stop Sacramento from trading him to the Pacers for Domantas Sabonis during the next year. Since then, Haliburton has exploded to become one of the best players in the league, leading the Pacers back to excellence. 

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One team that passed on Haliburton is the Knicks, and they have dealt with the consequences as Haliburton has tormented them in the playoffs. New York’s draft class was ok, but not as productive as Haliburton has been throughout his time in the NBA.

Hindsight says that Haliburton should’ve been a higher pick, but was that the belief at the time? Here’s a breakdown.

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Tyrese Haliburton draft

The Sacramento Kings took Haliburton with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, but he has become one of the best players in the draft class. Haliburton is one of four players from that draft class to make an All-Star game in their career, along with Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball and Tyrese Maxey.

Coming out of Iowa State, Haliburton was considered a lottery pick with some flaws in his game. Some analysts questioned whether the point guard’s unorthodox shot would translate to the league, and his limited strength and athleticism were also a potential issue.

In hindsight, Haliburton shouldn’t have fallen as far as he did, but even at the time analysts believed the Kings made the right choice. In 2020, The Ringer gave the pick an A, while CBS Sports gave the pick an A+.

The Pacers never had the chance to draft Haliburton, in part because they never had a pick that year. Indiana’s first-round pick landed at No. 24, which they traded to Milwaukee years earlier.

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Why didn’t the Knicks draft Tyrese Haliburton?

The Knicks had the eighth pick in the 2020 draft, but New York took Obi Toppin with the pick instead of Tyrese Haliburton. At the time, the Knicks were in the first year of the Leon Rose-Tom Thibodeau era and were coming off yet another missed playoffs season.

Toppin, a power forward out of Dayton, was connected to the Knicks throughout the process due to being a CAA client along with his New York roots. In a statement, team president Leon Rose said the team “coveted” Toppin as an “explosive athlete and one of the most dynamic players in college basketball.”

While the Knicks needed a point guard at the time, they chose to go with the power forward first, then took a point guard later. With the 25th overall pick in the draft, the Knicks drafted Immanuel Quickley out of Kentucky to fill the point guard void.

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Both Toppin and Quickley were solid in their Knicks stints, but neither stayed with the team long term.

When Julius Randle had a career-best season in 2020-21, he ended up blocking Toppin from starting, leading to New York trading Toppin to the Pacers three years later. Quickley, meanwhile, was a quality sixth man for New York before being a key piece in a trade with the Raptors for OG Anunoby.

By not drafting Haliburton, the Knicks had their starting point guard spot in flux until signing Jalen Brunson, which helped change the course of the franchise.

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2020 NBA Draft

Here’s a look at the first round of the 2020 NBA Draft: