Tyrese Haliburton Reveals He Wanted Suns to Draft Him

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns have had some notable draft blunders in their history, but the most recent one involved passing on Tyrese Haliburton with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and instead drafting Maryland's Jalen Smith with the selection.

On the "Numbers On the Board" podcast, Haliburton revealed that he and his agent called the Suns to try to get them to use the 10th pick on him before he fell all the way to the Sacramento Kings at No. 12.

"We were calling Phoenix. 'Ahh like, ya'll need a PG. Let me come play with Book (Devin Booker),'" Haliburton said. "And they were like, 'We're drafting a power forward.' I was like, 'I don't know who they're talking about, but they're not drafting me.'"

Tyrese Haliburton and his agent were calling the Phoenix Suns, hoping they would draft him, but Phoenix instead chose a PF (Jalen Smith) with the 10th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. pic.twitter.com/OI8vrbO4Yr
— Khiz (@KhizHoop) August 23, 2026

Phoenix had Ricky Rubio as its point guard at the time of the draft, but ended up trading him just two days later as part of the package for Chris Paul, who became the Suns new point guard.

"We focused on him in the draft, but we couldn't get him," former Suns coach Monty Williams previously said of Haliburton.

Haliburton reportedly withheld medical informations from two teams - the Atlanta Hawks (6th pick) and Cleveland Cavaliers (5th pick) - but Williams made it seem like there was also a reason Phoenix couldn't draft him.

“No, that’s incorrect,” Haliburton said of Williams' comment to Arizona Sports' Kellan Olson in 2024.“That’s definitely not the case. I was open to going anywhere that wasn’t those two teams. And any team that didn’t pick me, I don’t know.”

Smith, who averaged 10.2 points and 6.7 rebounds for the Chicago Bulls last season, never panned out for the Suns, who valued a stretch 4 in the draft at the time to try to match the size around the league, and they ended up trading him less than two seasons later in Feb. 2022 to the Indiana Pacers, where he ironically teamed up and formed a close relationship with Haliburton.

Haliburton, who is set to return this season after missing all of last year with a torn Achilles, has gone on to have an already decorated NBA career in his first six seasons, as he led the Pacers to the 2025 NBA Finals, is a two-time All-Star and All-NBA selection and was the second-youngest player on the loaded 2024 Team USA squad that also featured Booker.

On paper, Haliburton would be a perfect fit next to Booker in the backcourt and could've even added more tools to his game playing behind Paul, who helped lead Phoenix to the 2021 NBA Finals and a franchise-record 64 wins in the 2021-22 season.

Suns fans can only be left asking "what if" in terms of if the team would have selected Haliburton over Smith in the 2020 NBA Draft.

Add us as a preferred source on Google