Whether it was his shooting form, his frame or where he went to school, Haliburton had plenty of doubters leading into the 2020 NBA Draft.
But Haliburton is thankful for each and every one of them. I love it here. I m glad I slid to 12, said
Sacramento s rookie. If we did this all over, I would pray to God I slid here.
Haliburton is coming off another career-high mark notching 23 points and six assists on a 65+ field goal percentage against Denver, the first Kings rookie to accomplish that since Tyreke Evans.
No. 0 is also doing it when it counts the most, playing the fourth most fourth quarter minutes in the league (9.6) and carrying the second-highest shooting clip from three (62.9) in the final frame.
It started with highlights of the Showtime Lakers, the defining team of the 1980s that blended flashiness with efficiency, on John Haliburton’s television screen.
His youngest son, Tyrese, age seven, would lean in to watch Magic Johnson orchestrate the fastbreak with flair and precision, zipping a no-look pass that left defenders in awe or flipping the basketball in a spot where only a soaring teammate could catch it for an alley-oop finish.
On most days, Tyrese says, he d head straight home from school, park next to his father on the living room couch and sit for hours, marveling at the 6-foot-9 Lakers point guard who’d implant a valuable lesson in the youngster s mind on how the game should be played.