In Indiana, where Tyrese Haliburton is leading the NBA in assists, the team is happy. Ecstatic, really. The Pacers, a preseason candidate to finish at the bottom of the standings, are in the thick of the conference playoff race, with Haliburton the leading reason why. It was Andrew Nembhard’s shot that beat the Lakers on Monday, but it was Haliburton’s offensive rebound, clock awareness and frozen rope of a pass that set him up for it.
In Sacramento, where Domantas Sabonis is one of the NBA’s most reliable interior scorers, there is hope. Real hope. It has been 16 years since the Kings made the playoffs, years filled with coaching changes, front office shakeups and one catastrophic draft. While passing on Luka Dončić in 2018 will haunt Sacramento for decades (seriously, Vlade Divac, what were you thinking?), the Sabonis–De’Aaron Fox pairing—along with the collection of shooters the current front office has put around them—has given Kings fans optimism for the future.
In the NBA—or, more accurately, on NBA Twitter—there is often a focus on winning trades. The Celtics, who turned an aging Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett into the draft rights for Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, clobbered the Nets. Oklahoma City, which extracted two first-round picks, two pick swaps and Chris Paul from Houston for Russell Westbrook, swindled the Rockets. Today, the Thunder’s decision to offload Paul George to the Clippers for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a cache of picks and swaps looks like highway robbery.
