'You Need Tyrese Haliburton!' Stephen A. Smith Rips New York Knicks For 2020 Draft Mishap

The Indiana Pacers' success in the ongoing NBA In-Season Tournament had Stephen A. Smith reminiscing about the New York Knicks' missed chance to draft Tyrese Haliburton.

If it were up to Stephen A. Smith, the New York Knicks' roster would look different.

The Knicks have had their share of misfortune at the NBA Draft, but one in particular sticks out to ESPN analyst and New York fan/critic Stephen A. Smith upon the rise of Tyrese Haliburton. New York had a chance to draft Haliburton out of Iowa State with the eighth pick of the 2020 NBA Draft but they instead took Obi Toppin from Dayton. 

“I know a few members of the Knicks," Smith said on Tuesday's edition of First Take prior to New York's matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks. "I called them … I was arguing with them: ’Draft Haliburton. You got Julius Randle. You ain’t gonna play Obi Toppin so much. I know the brother’s a sky-walker, but dammit, that’s not what you need! You need Haliburton!’"

Dec 4, 2023; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) in the second half against the Boston Celtics at Gainbridge Fieldhouse / © Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

Unable to find a role for Toppin in the regular rotation over three seasons, the Knicks traded Toppin to the Indiana Pacers for second-round picks over the summer, Toppin joined up with Haliburton, another Indiana import who was drafted at 12th overall by Sacramento. The two are now poised to play for the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament crown on Saturday night against the Los Angeles Lakers (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC). 

Since joining the league in 2020, Haliburton has grown into exactly the player he promised to be. Out of college, he was an elite pass-first guard with a scoring ability compared to Lonzo Ball. He was also set to be an impactful defender with length and had great promise as a future rising star in the NBA. 

Alas for New York, the Knicks didn't see it that way.

Toppin brought the waterworks at eighth overall, as the Brooklyn native was set to return to New York basketball. But he was more than just a feel-good selection: he came to Manhattan as the reigning Naismith Player of the Year and was packed with the promise of a top-grade athlete.  

Arriving just in time for year one of the Tom Thibodeau era, Toppin joined a Knicks squad trying to find itself. Randle was coming off of an inefficient first season with New York, while then-sophomore R.J. Barrett was still finding his sea legs. But as promising as it looked on paper, he never grew into the role that New York envisioned for him, thanks in part to Randle's All-Star breakout during the ensuing 2020-21 season that saw the Knicks place fourth in the East en route to ending a seven-year playoff drought.

Smith's argument isn't as black and white as he makes it seem: Randle's second-year leap was unexpected, to say the least, as he went on to average then-career-bests in almost every major category (including averages of 24.1 points and 10.2 rebounds). He became an undisputed No. 1 option for the Knicks and, despite a few hiccups, more or less shares that role with Jalen Brunson to this day. 

From there, Toppin's prescience felt redundant: the hometown rookie only averaged 11 minutes in his first season and never averaged more than 18 over his three years. It got to the point where trading him was the only option no matter how meager the return was. Sensible as it may have been, watching Toppin make magic for the surging Pacers alongside draft classmate Haliburton, who has formally introduced himself to the mainstream basketball scene during the In-Season Tournament knockout round (53 points, 28 assists in wins over Boston and Milwaukee). 

Haliburton likely would have found success in New York, especially with a different skillset than Randle and could have thrived by taking the brunt of distribution duties. The Knicks more or less found a stabilizer in that regard by landing Brunson to take over that role two summers ago, but the idea of what might've been will no doubt linger among Knicks fans who were dealt a swift helping of reality upon a 146-122 shellacking at the hands of the defending top seed Bucks on Tuesday. 

The entire NBA revolves around the question of "What If?." If a draft pick doesn't work out, it's common practice for social media to essentially rub it in if a later pick produced a superstar. If an attempt at a "Big 3" goes awry, the narrative becomes about what could have been. The same goes with trade rumors becoming, well, just rumors.

New York isn't new to that kind of thinking. Smith's comments just add fuel to that flame, but it's not concerned with that. Yes, Haliburton would have been nice, but perhaps disregards what they've been able to accomplish with the current core of Barrett, Brunson, and Randle.

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New York (12-8) returns to action Friday evening on the road against the Boston Celtics (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG/NBA TV).