Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick’s apology about Tyrese Haliburton may have been a little too quick.
The Indiana Pacers currently hold a 2-1 lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2025 NBA Finals and there’s no doubt that Tyrese Haliburton has played a crucial role in that.
With Haliburton being just two wins away from leading the Pacers to the 2025 NBA Championship, it will obviously be a blow to some of his critics.
However, Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick is one of the few who has always believed in Haliburton’s talents.
With Haliburton launching himself to stardom, the Sacramento Kings must regret their decision to give up on him too soon.
After all, Haliburton was originally drafted by the Kings using the 12th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. However, in the middle of his sophomore season, the Kings parted ways with Haliburton.
At the time, not many had particularly bad things to say about the trade. The Kings decided to focus on De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis as their core stars.
But Redick called out the Kings, stating: “This is some form of malpractice on the Kings’ part… Tyrese Haliburton has been the best player on that team…
“He was determined to turn things around and be part of that rebuild in Sacramento… They traded away their best player,” he said on a February 09, 2022, episode of ESPN’s NBA Today.
No one could have predicted Haliburton’s success, but it felt like Redick was on the correct path, only for him to take back his comments.
Despite being against the Hali-Sabonis trade, seeing the Kings’ breakout 2022-23 season, Redick seemingly regretted his furious rant.
Redick apologized for his ‘malpractice’ comments on a March 14, 2023, episode of his podcast, ‘The Old Man and The Three.’
“I just want to be accountable for some things I said at the trade deadline last year. In the context of the trade deadline, I didn’t like the trade.
“I should have not used the word ‘malpractice’ and I apologize for that,” Redick stated.
“I apologize to the Sacramento Kings fan base and I apologize for that to Monte McNair. This trade has turned into a win-win,” the current Lakers head coach concluded.
But seeing how the Kings have fallen off the cliff since their breakout campaign and the Pacers have improved with Haliburton as their primary star, Redick may take back his apology.
After all, while the Kings have missed playoffs for two straight years, the Pacers were in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2024 and, as fans know, they currently have the upper hand over the Thunder in the 2025 NBA Finals.
