Tyrese Haliburton is front and center this weekend as the Indiana Pacers host NBA All-Star weekend in Indianapolis. And this week at a live podcast taping with ESPN senior NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, the Pacers’ star point guard revealed just how deeply Wojnarowski’s influence ran when Haliburton was traded to Indiana two years ago.
Discussing how the deal caught him by surprise, Haliburton detailed his confusion when the news first arose. The Sacramento Kings told Haliburton’s representatives shortly before the 2022 NBA trade deadline that he could be moved, but the destination was uncertain.
Haliburton then got another call from his reps, who told him the Kings weren’t being very forthcoming.
“They’re being weird, they’re not answering our calls, weird stuff is happening,” Haliburton’s agent told him.
Then a familiar voice gave Haliburton the answer he was looking for.
“They’re like, ‘We just don’t know who the team is.’ And I’m like, ‘Who could it be? Is it Philly?” Haliburton recalled on The Woj Pod. “And then, Woj’s voice comes across, ‘I think it’s Indiana.'”
Haliburton had no idea Wojnarowski was on the call at all.
“I’m thinking I’m on the phone with my agents, and it’s like Woj is on the phone,” Haliburton said. “Long story short, five minutes later I got traded … that just goes to show you (Woj) is mysterious. If you don’t know where he is, he’s everywhere.”
Sports insider stories tend to feature a severe lack of sleep and an occasionally creepy level of prying, but being wired into a phone call between an agent and his player is a new one.
Luckily, Haliburton is a good sport. And certainly it helps to have connections in the media to be ahead of the curve. But many players would take a situation like this as an invasion of privacy. What if Haliburton reacted negatively to going to Indiana and Wojnarowski was on the call to hear it?
It’s certainly a unique approach from both Wojnarowski and the agent. But all’s fair that ends in a good story.
[The Woj Pod via u/sewsgup on Reddit]
