Tyrese Haliburton should still be on the Philadelphia 76ers’ list

Over the first four days of January, there was no real, sourced trade chatter about Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers.

It was nice, calm, peaceful. Outside of a lopsided win headlined by hardship head coach Dan Burke, a few players – plus Doc Rivers – landing in protocol, and a few more signing hardship contracts (more on that here), the Sixers were, like, a normal basketball team and boy it was nice.

On day five of the 2022 calendar year, however, reality reared its ugly head.

That’s right, in Sam Amick of The Athletic’s most recent edition of the NBA notebook, he talked about the Sacramento Kings disappointing season and how they have no untouchable players heading into the trade deadline.

But why, you may ask, is that relevant to the Philadelphia 76ers? Well, because Amick invoked the name of Ben Simmons, of course, making a story about hypothetical roster-building into a tangible news story. Where a deal once looked impossible with both Tyrese Haliburton and De’Aaron Fox off the table, now talks could actually have some legs, especially since the former is a very fun fit in Philly.

The Philadelphia 76ers should still have Tyrese Haliburton on their list.

To steal a metaphor from The Ringers’ J. Kyle Mann, Tyrese Haliburton is a sideman.

He’s Keith Richards, The Edge, Steven Van Zandt. While Haliburton isn’t the type of player who will ever become the face of a franchise, sell a ton of jerseys, or transcend the game of basketball to become a pop culture icon, he’s a hooper’s hooper who does what needs to be done and makes the players around him better.

With a flashy, driving point guard in place and arguably the best center in the NBA already on the roster, Haliburton’s box-checking abilities make a ton of sense on a Philadelphia 76ers team in need of connective tissue.

Measuring in at 6-foot-5 185 pounds, Haliburton is a combo guard who could even play some small forward alongside Maxey and Seth Curry. He’s a career 41.4 percent shooter from beyond the arc on 4.9 attempts per game, a good passer who has elevated his assist totals from 5.3 to 6.9 in 2021-22, and a certified pickpocket with 138 steals in 95 professional games.

While Haliburton’s defense has just been average in 2021-22, that’s actually a massive upgrade from his efforts as a rookie, where he had the third-worst defensive plus-minus of any player in the association regardless of position, according to ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus.

On the Sixers right now, Haliburton would probably either start at the two-guard spot next to the only other Tyrese in the NBA, Tyrese Maxey or come off the bench as the team’s sixth man and would be able to both play off-ball when 0 is at the controls and run the team’s second unit in place of Shake Milton. He’d be able to play off of any player on the team, from Myles Powell to Andre Drummond, and remain on the court at the end of games as a versatile ball mover equally capable of passing, shooting, or driving any time he touches the rock.

Considering the Sixers’ lack of on-ball players, securing a highly skilled combo guard equally suited to play on or off the ball could make the team a whole lot harder to guard and, in turn, Joel Embiid’s life a whole lot easier.

Sidebar: Personally, I really like the idea of a three-guard lineup with Haliburton at small forward, especially if the Sixers can secure a player like Marvin Bagley III to improve their rebounding.

Despite playing on the wings 85 percent of the time for the Kings, Haliburton leads Sacramento passes per game at 56.4 and has an assist-to-pass percentage of 12.4, a mark higher that’s 2.5 percent higher than any player on the Sixers roster.

That, my friends, is a very good stat. Would you like to know a few more that really highlight what makes Haliburton special? How about that he’s shooting 41 percent on catch-and-shoot 3s, 42.8 percent on 3s from above the break, and 43.3 from the corners, all of which would rank top-4 on the Sixers right now.

If you’re looking for a young guard to bet on, Haliburton is better than most.

So what would a trade package centered around Tyrese Haliburton look like? Well, how much time do you have? Because Hali only makes $4 million in 2021-22, the Kings would also have to offer up some combination of Harrison Barnes, Buddy Hield, Marvin Bagley, and/or Richaun Holmes to get a deal done, with a few more side players potentially available to even out the deal money-wise. The Sixers would also surely ask for picks back too, which could ultimately be the deciding factor as to whether or not a deal actually gets done, but regardless of the actual parameters of a deal, bringing back Tyrese Haliburton would unquestionably make the Philadelphia 76ers a better team in the short and long-term, as he can quite literally play with anyone and do so at a high level.