Woj: Tyrese Haliburton's 3rd-Year Contract Option Exercised by Kings

The Sacramento Kings are exercising their third-year option on guard Tyrese Haliburton, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. 

The move comes as no surprise, with Sacramento aiming to keep its young core of Haliburton, De'Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley III together for a long time. 

Haliburton is now officially locked up through the 2022-23 campaign, and it would be a surprise if the Kings didn't pick up his 2023-24 option about one year from now.

The Kings selected Haliburton 12th overall in the 2020 NBA draft out of Iowa State. The 21-year-old averaged 13.0 points, 5.3 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game during his rookie season while shooting 47.2 percent from the field and 40.9 percent from deep. 

However, the young guard was limited to just 58 games last season. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in a win over the Dallas Mavericks in May but was lucky to avoid surgery. 

Despite missing time, Haliburton finished third in Rookie of the Year voting last season behind Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, respectively. 

The Kings are expected to have one of the most exciting young backcourts in the NBA this season with Haliburton, Fox and rookie Davion Mitchell. 

However, it's unclear if that will be enough to get Sacramento back to the playoffs for the first time since the 2005-06 season. The Kings have finished 31-41 in each of the last two campaigns. 

The Western Conference is loaded with talent, and it will be difficult for the Kings to surpass teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz. The most significant thing for Haliburton and the team's other young players to focus on is consistently taking their game to the next level.