Nearly five months after requesting a trade, Buddy Hield finally got his wish. If only his desire to move on from the Indiana Pacers made Hield's departure any easier for longtime teammate Tyrese Haliburton to stomach.
After Indiana shipped Hield to the Philadelphia 76ers at Thursday's trade deadline, Haliburton posted an equally heartfelt and humorous tribute to the veteran shooting shooting guard on social media.
“Chavano! Weird putting on an NBA jersey without you! Thankful you’ve been like a big brother to me these past 4 years,” Haliburton wrote on Twitter. “Going to miss having you around, but more than all imma miss you getting mad when I look you off to hit the big for a dunk fr. And know when I FINALLY catch you on that iso, it’s over wit!! You already know what it is fam, no long talk! 242 to the World!!🩵”
Hield went public with his hope to be traded in late September, after learning the team planned to start sophomore guard Bennedict Mathurin over him in the backcourt next to Haliburton and contract extension talks with front office went nowhere. A deal never materialized despite multiple teams showing interest in the sharpshooter, though, suitors reluctant to meet Indiana's asking price for Hield and commit to the big-money extension he sought before potentially entering free agency this summer.
The Pacers made it clear they'd be hanging onto Hield at least up to the trade deadline a week before 2023-24 tipped off. He then overtook Mathurin as a starter in mid-November, Hield's ability to bend defenses through the imminent threat of his elite movement shooting proving integral to Indiana's league-best offensive attack. Player and team never came close to finding common ground on an extension, however, clearing the way for the Pacers to trade him prior to Thursday's 3:00 p.m. (EST) deadline rather than lose him for nothing this summer.
Pacers' path forward without Buddy Hield
Holding onto Hield despite the prospect of him leaving in free agency would've been understandable for Indiana considering the front office pushed in valuable team-building chips for Pascal Siakam back on January 17th. The Pacers aren't a top-tier Eastern Conference contender, but it's safe to say even the league-leading Boston Celtics would want nothing to do with Haliburton, Siakam and company in a potential postseason series.
That could still prove the case come spring. Any notion the impact of Hield's absence will be mitigated by Indiana's subsequent trade for Doug McDermott is wildly optimistic, though. Deadeye a shooter as McDermott is with his feet set, his jumper just isn't as versatile as Hield's. Neither is an answer defensively, but at least Hield is capable of supplying some resistance on that side of the ball with effort and physicality. McDermott, meanwhile, sports some of the lowest steal and block rates in league history and struggles to slide his feet, making him an easy target for star ball-handlers under the postseason microscope.
McDermott is best suited to be on the fringes of a playoff team's rotation, basically, while Hield can still provide real impact as a scorer and spacer off the bench or as a fifth starter—the roles he's primed to play in Philadelphia over the season's remainder before hitting free agency in July.
Rick Carlisle had recently moved Andrew Nembhard into the starting lineup ahead of Hield. Expect him to continue opening alongside Haliburton with Aaron Nesmith and Siakam on the wing and Myles Turner in the middle. While that group provides a better blend of offensive firepower and defensive teeth than one with Hield in Nembhard's place, the Pacers' three-point volume and accuracy will be worth monitoring going forward now that Hield is in Philadelphia—especially if Carlisle can't find regular minutes for McDermott off the pine.
Follow Us
Subscribe