It's the mistake that continues to haunt the Golden State Warriors nearly six years later, and now Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton has rubbed more salted into the painful James Wiseman wound.
The Warriors' interest in Haliburton following a strong workout in the pre-draft process has become infamous in franchise history, having chosen not to draft the young guard but instead take Wiseman second overall back in 2020.
Tyrese Haliburton rubs more salt into Warriors' James Wiseman wound
As much as Golden State fans don't need to hear about it again, Haliburton took the chance during his recent appearance on the Numbers On The Board podcast to retell the story of his pre-draft process with the Warriors.
..."The best workout of my life. I know everybody says that about their workouts, like 'Ah, that's the best workout of my life.' No, no, no, it was the best workout of my life. I didn't miss because I went in I was like 'This is perfect' because I know I could play in that system and Steph wants to play off ball," Haliburton said. "Then in the interview they were like 'We know you fit us perfect. We know you fit us perfect, but we don't know if we could draft you at 2."
In fairness to the Warriors, taking Haliburton second would have been quite the reach considering he ultimately landed 12th overall to the Sacramento Kings, before being traded to the Pacers in a controversial trade during his second season.
If anything this makes the whole outcome even more frustrating and disappointing. If Golden State loved Haliburton as much as he describes, they should have made a much more concerted effort to trade down, draft him and pick up another asset in the process. Given Haliburton fell to 12, they could have even tried to trade a future pick or another asset to land him while keeping Wiseman and hoping that panned out.
Those 'what if' scenarios almost perfectly illustrate the lack of creativity we've seen from the Warriors over this decade, having extended even to this year where there were calls for them to try and trade back into the late first-round of the draft.
Warriors underwhelming position stems from draft failures
Golden State find themselves in this middling position of Play-In Tournament purgatory thanks largely to their draft mistakes, having whiffed on three lottery picks headlined by Wiseman who's now out of the league after only 152 NBA games.
Jonathan Kuminga flashed potential but never consistently fit the Warriors identity, and while Moses Moody has developed into a reliable role player prior to March's devastating knee injury, the front office did miss out on the likes of Trey Murphy III, Alperun Sengun and Jalen Johnson who were all available at the 14th pick in 2021.
The Warriors only have themselves to blame for their current situation, and one can only wonder where they'd be right now if they'd managed to leave the 2020 Draft with Haliburton over Wiseman.
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