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Buddy Hield was on his way to the City of Angels in the offseason for Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell before the Los Angeles Lakers decided to acquire Russell Westbrook instead. He would have been a perfect fit alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis because of the incredible floor spacing he provides along with reliability in clutch situations.
Hield has certain defensive holes in his arsenal, but his weaknesses could be addressed through team defense. Even with mismatches occurring on Hield, his teammates could help on him from the weak side in order to mitigate his subpar defense. He has two more years on his contract after this season, which could be a cause of concern, but there are some franchises in the NBA who have huge deals as well who could play better than Hield. His numbers have plummeted from his best season in 2018-19, but these are some teams who could rekindle the best days of Hield.
Arguably the most surprising team in the association this year in the Cleveland Cavaliers would massively benefit with another shooter on their squad. With the tremendous vision of Darius Garland and Rajon Rondo, Hield's looks would heavily increase in the system of head coach J.B. Bickerstaff. Their defense is predicated on funneling the guards to Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, so Bickerstaff could formulate schemes to hide Buddy Hield on defense.
With the Ricky Rubio expiring deal, Collin Sexton and picks or young assets, this could be an enticing deal for the Kings. However if the Kings hesitate to add more guards in return, they could find a third team who would absorb the salary of Rubio along with possibly resigning Sexton in restricted free agency. Matching Hield with the twin tower combination of Allen and Mobley alongside the phenom in Garland could propel Cleveland to win at least one playoff series this year.
Another organization who has exceeded preseason expectations is the Memphis Grizzlies. Their production on both ends of the floor has been exceptional, but one weakness they could address is their consistent outside shooting. Desmond Bane has ascended to an excellent bullseye long range shooter, but he remains to be the only one shooting above 40% from behind the arc.
The aforementioned drop in the efficiency of Hield is currently at 37.6% from three-point distance, but he has proved to reach over 40% thrice in his career already. The expiring deals of Kyle Anderson and Tyus Jones could be the centerpiece of the deal along with possible draft picks or young assets from the Grizzlies. Their rise has been fast-tracked with the sensational skill level of Bane, Ja Morant, and Jaren Jackson Jr., so they could be active buyers in the approaching trade deadline.
Surrounding Luka Doncic with just more shooters seems to be the recipe for success for the Dallas Mavericks. With Tim Hardaway Jr. being done for this season, Hield could be a viable replacement in the rotation for Hardaway Jr. It could be a tricky financial situation for Dallas though with the super max of Doncic kicking-in next year and Hardway Jr's extension will still last for three more seasons after this current one.
It seems insurmountable for Dallas to keep both Dorian Finney-Smith and Jalen Brunson in free agency unless Mark Cuban would be willing to go over the tax. Dwight Powell's contract could be movable along with Finney-Smith and possibly Josh Green or Sterling Brown to match the salaries. One could argue that Hield is overpaid for his current numbers, but Doncic and head coach Jason Kidd is a plausible solution who could both unleash his shooting niche once again.
The career year of Buddy Hield was when he averaged close to 21 points per game with splits of 46/43/89%. That is not an aberration of Hield's upside because he has proven to go on an unstoppable stretch for several games in a season. Another impressive statistic from that campaign is he started and played all 82 games under Luke Walton. As Hield is on a tough road in his professional career, a new city could be a welcoming change in his sixth year in the league.
