2020 NBA Draft: Tyrese Haliburton slides to Kings with the No. 12 overall pick
The Sacramento Kings have selected Tyrese Haliburton with the No. 12 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. Haliburton's rise to the top of the draft board is a relatively recent phenomenon. He was graded as a three-star recruit by 247Sports and didn't attend one of college basketball's blue blood programs. But he thrived as Iowa State's point guard for two seasons, and now, he'll attempt to recapture that magic at the NBA level.
Haliburton is a do-it-all guard that should thrive in a winning environment. Like LaMelo Ball and Killian Hayes in this class, he brings tremendous size at the point guard position at 6-5 with a 6-8 wingspan. That size helps facilitate his incredible passing vision. He has a long way to go as an individual scorer, but he should be effective out of the gate in the pick-and-roll based on that passing. He managed to shoot 42.6 percent from behind the arc in college despite a very unusual shooting motion.
That shooting motion should serve him just fine in catch-and-shoot settings, but his low release point and slow motion could easily become a problem off of the dribble. He isn't exactly an elite athlete either. In that sense, Haliburton might be better served playing alongside another ball-handler and serving in a supplementary role offensively.
He'll get that chance alongside De'Aaron Fox in Sacramento. The Kings never could have expected that Haliburton, often mocked as high as No. 4 overall, would fall to No. 12. He did, and with Bogdan Bogdanovic expected to leave in free agency, the Kings have found a potential long-term partner for Fox in their backcourt. Considering where he was expected to be drafted and the fit in Sacramento, this is one of the best value picks in the draft.
