Can Kings guard Buddy Hield be content with backup role in Sacramento next season?
Kings guard Buddy Hield made it clear he was not happy after being moved into a backup role earlier this season. He seemed to be sending the same message Thursday after the Kings beat the Los Angeles Lakers to end the season.
Hield came off the bench to score a game-high 28 points in 26 minutes in a 136-122 victory over the Lakers at The Field House in the NBA bubble at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando. He provided a series of short answers during a Zoom session with reporters and offered a cryptic response when asked if he could be content with his role going into next season.
“Y’all know me,” Hield said. “Y’all know how I talk. Y’all know how I feel. Y’all can read me well, so I’ll let y’all answer that yourselves.”
Hield could request a trade in the offseason, but it is unclear if he plans to do so. He was also asked Thursday if there were any positives from this season he could take into the offseason.
“Yeah, I just gotta work on my game, bro,” he said. “Stay locked in and focus on what I’ve got to do. Just keep remembering where I came from and what got me here and how I can stick for a long time.”
Hield averaged 19.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists this season. He shot 42.6% from the field and 39% from 3-point range. Hield enjoyed one of his best stretches of the season after going to the bench, helping the Kings win 13 of 20 to get back in playoff contention before the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Hield is prone to defensive lapses and turnovers, but he is one of the game’s most elite shooters, having surpassed Stephen Curry as the fastest player in NBA history to make 800 career 3-pointers. Hield made his 270th 3-pointer of the season in Thursday’s win over the Lakers, joining Stephen Curry (2014-17) and James Harden (2018-20) as the only players in NBA history to make at least 270 3-pointers in consecutive seasons.
One of the biggest questions facing the Kings going into the offseason is what to do with Hield, the 27-year-old sharpshooter who signed a four-year, $86 million contract extension in October. Hield started 126 consecutive games for the Kings before coach Luke Walton moved him into a backup role behind Bogdan Bogdanovic on Jan. 24.
Bogdanovic will soon become a restricted free agent. The Kings have managed their cap space to ensure they can match any reasonable offer for Bogdanovic, but it could cost them more than $15 million per year. Bogdanovic averaged 15.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists this season, shooting 43.9% from the field and 37% from 3-point range.
Kings general manager Vlade Divac must decide how much money the organization can allocate to Hield and Bogdanovic at the shooting guard position. Hield will make more than $24 million next season, the first year of his new deal. The Kings will pay Harrison Barnes $22.2 million. De’Aaron Fox is eligible for an extension that could cost the team more than $30 million per year.
Walton acknowledged he and Divac have much to discuss.
“There’s a long list that we’ll get to,” Walton said. “First, I’ll sit down with the front office this weekend and go over some things. As a coach, I believe in staying as focused in the present as much as possible while we’re playing. Now that the games are over, when we get back to (Sacramento), Vlade and I will talk, but there’s a lot. There’s always a lot to do as far as talking about where we are at as a team, where we’re going, draft picks, how this offseason is going to play out. So (we have) a lot of stuff to get done this offseason.
“I think like every team in the NBA when they finish their season, it’s important for the coach and the front office to kind of get each other’s opinions on where we’re at and what we need and what the game plan is for this unusual offseason going forward. Nothing that’s more important than anything else, but a lot of stuff that we have to start dialogue on and start nailing down.”
This story was originally published August 13, 2020 at 3:57 PM.
