Pacers trade Sabonis to Kings, land Haliburton in 6-player blockbuster

The Indiana Pacers are sending Domantas Sabonis, Jeremy Lamb, and Justin Holiday to the Sacramento Kings for Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, and Tristan Thompson, the team announced on Tuesday.

Sacramento is also acquiring a 2027 second-round pick in the deal.

The Pacers apparently first placed Sabonis on the market in December along with fellow big man Myles Turner and guard Caris LeVert to shift its direction toward a rebuild. On Sunday, Indiana shipped LeVert to the Cleveland Cavaliers, though Turner remains on the roster for now ahead of Thursday's trade deadline.

It's long been expected that Sacramento would part with Hield, who at one point last summer seemed to be on his way to the Lakers until Los Angeles opted to acquire Russell Westbrook from the Washington Wizards instead.

Haliburton's inclusion in Tuesday's agreement comes as a surprise, however. In January, the Kings reportedly told front offices across the league, as well as De'Aaron Fox's agents, that they planned to build the team around Fox and the 21-year-old Haliburton.

A second-year guard out of Iowa State, Haliburton is averaging 14.3 points, 7.4 assists, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.7 steals while shooting 41.3% from distance through 51 games this season. The 12th overall pick in 2020 seemed content to stay in Sacramento for the long term, stating in late January that he wanted to "help fix" the Kings' playoff drought. They appear on course to miss the postseason for a 16th consecutive year.