The Chicago Bulls have been mired in mediocrity for about a decade now, but things might have been different today had they not made a big mistake in the 2020 NBA Draft. The Bulls had the fourth pick, and a certain Tyrese Haliburton was very keen to be drafted by them.
“I think I fit well in Chicago with two guards in Coby [White] and Zach [LaVine] that can score at a high level,” Haliburton said. “I can come in right away and be somebody that can take the burden off them and facilitate. Whatever is needed in Chicago, or any organization, for that matter, I’m ready to do.”
Friendly reminder: Haliburton begged the Bulls to draft him in 2020.
The Bulls took college bench player Patrick Williams instead. One year later the signed Lonzo. pic.twitter.com/Ydb5pSWNOz
— Die-Hard Chicago Bulls Fans (@DieHardCBfans) May 28, 2025
Haliburton would have been a good fit next to a scoring guard like Zach LaVine. Unfortunately, the Bulls went in a different direction. They selected Patrick Williams, who hasn’t exactly set the stage on fire.
Williams averaged 9.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game for the Bulls in 2024-25 while shooting 39.7% from the field. They had given him a five-year, $90 million deal in 2024, and it’s now viewed as one of the worst contracts in the NBA.
The Bulls just went 39-43 this season and missed out on the playoffs for the third year in a row. You do wonder where they would be today with Haliburton.
While you can criticize the Bulls for picking Williams and giving him this deal, you can’t be too hard on them for passing on Haliburton. A total of 11 teams passed on Haliburton in that draft, with the Sacramento Kings selecting him with the 12th pick. There were concerns regarding his athleticism, and that jump shot wasn’t pretty, to say the least.
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was one of the few who believed Haliburton’s jumper would work in the NBA. That didn’t mean the Warriors, who had the second pick, would select him, though, as they went with James Wiseman. That was a mistake, too, an even bigger one, perhaps, than picking Williams.
Haliburton had no hard feelings over the Warriors passing on him. He knew as well that he was never going to go that high. What Haliburton did take offense to, though, was the Detroit Pistons selecting Killian Hayes instead of him.
“With the Pistons, I knew they needed a point guard. I already felt like I was the best point guard in the draft because on ESPN it has like, the top players available. One, two, and three were Anthony Edwards, James Wiseman, and LaMelo Ball. So after that, I’m the No. 1 best available and every pick after that it’s panning to the camera in my room…. flashed up Killian Hayes and I’m like, ‘What?’ In the moment I was just angry I was like, ‘They need a point guard and they are not picking me?’ So that one definitely felt the most personal, no question.”
Considering Hayes most recently played for the Long Island Nets in the G League, it’s safe to say the Pistons made a big mistake. Looking back at that draft, Haliburton is probably the second-best player of his class after Anthony Edwards.
While so many teams made a mistake by passing on Haliburton, one might argue that the biggest one was made by the team that drafted him. The Kings, of course, traded him to the Indiana Pacers in 2022. For quite a while, it was viewed as a win-win trade as the Kings got Domantas Sabonis, but that’s no longer the case.
Haliburton has the Pacers just one win away from getting to the NBA Finals. The two-time All-Star had 32 points (11-23 FG), 12 rebounds, 15 assists, and four steals in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks to help his team take a 3-1 lead.
