There was a time when Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton’s name swirled in Ben Simmons trade rumors. Realistically, there was no way to make it work with the Sixers.
Surely this is what everyone wants to hear as he leads his team on an improbable Finals run.
Tyrese Haliburton comes up a lot in conversation around these parts. Not just because of his ascent to an All-NBA player as he’s taken his team through two deep playoff runs, but because there was a time he was heavily featured in Sixers trade rumors.
Back during the 2022 season during Ben Simmons’ holdout, the Sacramento Kings were rumored often as a potential suitor for the disgruntled point guard. Reports vary on whether the Kings wanted to offer Haliburton or De’Aaron Fox.
Keith Pompey and Jake Fischer have each reported after the fact that Haliburton was a possibility in a Simmons trade. In a recent story for ESPN, Ramona Shelbourne dropped a nugget that Drew Hanlen, a trainer for several NBA players including Joel Embiid, got a head start on Haliburton’s film in 2022 because of said trade rumors. Regardless, both teams went their separate paths.
The Indiana Pacers ended up putting together a package centered around Domantas Sabonis to acquire Haliburton, while Daryl Morey re-united with James Harden, sending Simmons to the Brooklyn Nets.
Now it seems that every time Haliburton impresses in the national spotlight, a contingent of Sixers fans look back at these trades as a missed opportunity. This has only been heightened after Harden’s ugly departure from Philadelphia and the Pacers reaching greater heights than this era of Sixers basketball.
Where was Howie Roseman when we needed him @PHLSixersNation pic.twitter.com/LdTkRGMOzT
— Eagles Nation (@PHLEaglesNation) June 6, 2025
It’s easy to be mad at this franchise and front office, especially after the catastrophe they just went through. There have been so many missed opportunities in this era it’s hard not to ask what if? This particular decision though is not worth the time or the breath.
It’s important to remember Haliburton would have been coming into a very different situation than the one he landed in Indiana, where he was handed over the keys to an offense that became catered to his play-style.
As opposed to the Sixers where he would have been playing second fiddle to the league’s leading scorer who likes to play at a much slower pace. Next to Tyrese Maxey, the backcourt would have just been 22 and 21 years old, respectively, at the time. That’s already ambitious for a team trying to compete for a championship, let alone who the coach of the team was back then.
Perhaps Haliburton is so talented it would have worked out anyways. They would’ve had more time to figure it out, and it seems he’s developed a strong relationship with Embiid as is.
All of these “what if’s” though are missing the forest through the trees. While it might not feel like it, the Harden trade was a success for the Sixers. Even if Simmons didn’t become the worst contract in the league, Harden went on to lead the league in assists in his full year with the Sixers, developing a lethal-two man game with Embiid who went on to win MVP.
How many years, before 2023, did Sixers fans ask themselves, “if only Embiid had a co-star who could take over one game in a series?”
Harden didn’t just get one, he had two 40+-point performances — against the Celtics no less. He put them into position to finally get past the dreaded second round of the playoffs. Embiid needed to finish the job.
If anything’s become clear over the past 18 months, it’s that time to push in all the chips on the Embiid-era was at the beginning of the decade. The Pacers are great and could be for a long time, but they didn’t even make the playoffs under Haliburton until 2024.
Choosing Haliburton over Harden would have been better for the team’s five-year outlook, but that’s a lot easier to say in hindsight. Embiid was playing at an MVP-level around the trade deadline of 2022, and would keep up on that level of play for another 24 months. It was always the shorter-term view, but Harden was the better option to help Embiid win right then and there.
When an era has failed, the easiest thing to do is point to one transaction or another as a missed opportunity, and there are plenty of mistakes from the past eight years. Sometimes though, it’s just on the guys you have to get it done.