Buddy Hield – Sacramento Kings
It was assumed that Buddy Hield would be on the move to the Los Angeles Lakers near or on draft night, as there seemed to be a verbal agreement in place between the two teams, but then the Lakers were able to get a deal done with the Washington Wizards to acquire Russell Westbrook, which led the the Kings deal falling apart. Now, after knowingly being made available, it is hard to imagine Hield wants to stay in Sacramento.
His frustrations with the Kings have long been documented as his relationship with head coach Luke Walton has been a roller coaster ride ever since Walton took over as head coach of the Kings ahead of the 2019-20 season. Buddy Hield has not shown up to the Kings’ facilities at times and last offseason, Sacramento had a hard time staying in contact with him.
It is no secret that Buddy Hield would like to be moved and with three years and $61.5M remaining on his contract, the Kings would probably like to move him as well. Since entering the league in 2016, Hield has made a name for himself being a big time perimeter threat, as he has averaged 40.6% from three-point range in five seasons.
There have been some teams interested in Buddy Hield over the years, but the Kings have never really made him truly available in trade talks before this offseason.
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There was interest from Sacramento in moving both he and Marvin Bagley III to the Philadelphia 76ers for All-Star Ben Simmons, but the 76ers have declined this offer and do not want to send Simmons to the Kings unless De’Aaron Fox is involved in the deal. Fox is “the guy” for the Kings, so it is hard to imagine they will move him, especially after signing him to a five-year, $163M extension last offseason.
Who becomes interested in Hield is going to be a key storyline during the 2021-22 season, but there are going to be teams interested in him. Three-point shooting is so valuable in today’s NBA and seeing as Buddy Buddy Hield is one of the bigger perimeter threats in the league, a playoff-caliber team is going to be willing to give up assets to acquire him, especially if he is still on the Kings at the NBA trade deadline.
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The Pelicans, 76ers, Wizards, Grizzlies and Mavericks are all teams who could utilize Hield on the wing, but there could also be a handful of other teams that show interest at some point. All-in-all, teams know what they are getting with Buddy Hield on the court, which is why he is a guy that many teams could be highly interested in investing in as we lead up to the beginning of the 2021-22 season and even as the season goes on.
