Buddy Hield Is Now The Latest Big Name To Hit The NBA Trade Market And Every Contender Should Be Calling The Pacers

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Shams bomb? Yes…no?

Eh, screw it. SHAMS BOMB!

OK, that might be a little much but whatever, we're so close to the NBA season I feel like I'm allowed to be excited over news like this. I love a good trade bomb, especially two weeks before camp opens.

So now let's get to the details. It's a little shocking given that Hield was a pretty big piece of the Haliburton/Sabonis trade, and he is coming off one of the best shooting seasons of his career while playing in 80 games (73 starts) for the Pacers. The dude can flat out shoot the rock (42.5% from deep last year)

But as we know, if you aren't going to be able to sign an extension you basically leave the team no choice but to trade you early. Hield is in the final year of his deal and can walk next summer, so this is really the only option the Pacers have. They can't lose that asset for nothing.

The question now becomes, what does a trade even look like? What do the Pacers need? At $18.5M it's not like Hield is on some massive contract that will be hard to match money, so you could see the Pacers go in a number of directions. Maybe they look for another wing/shooter, maybe they look for point guard depth behind Haliburton since all they really have is TJ McConnell/Andrew Nembhard. Maybe they want big man depth behind Myles Turner. They're going to have to temper their expectations I think since nobody is going to overpay for an expiring deal, but I can't help but think about one potential option

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Malcolm Brogdon, former Pacer, makes $22.5M this year and $22.5M next year. You can make the money work. The reason I'm throwing the Celts into the mix is another little tidbit as well. 

Daniel Theis.

He's fallen out of the rotation for the most part in IND, the Celts could always use the front court depth, he's already been traded away and then brought back before, and he has a club option for next season at $9.5M. That's the type of flexibility we know Brad Stevens loves. 

You add in all this recent speculation that Brogdon is still mad about almost being traded for Porzingis, and it's not the craziest idea.

The tougher part is trying to find out how to make everything line up if Brad also wants to include Theis. How about something like this (assume some sort of pick is thrown in as well)

Call me crazy, but this might work for everyone involved. Celts definitely get a little thin at PG, but you can figure that out. They avoid any sort of Brogdon drama while also bringing in just as good of a shooter, it doesn't bring on any crazy money long term as they get closer to Tatum's supermax, and you get to bring back Theis who looked AWESOME at the FIBA World Cup.

The Pacers get a guy they're familiar with, they get big man depth and shooting, and also don't lose an asset for nothing.

In fact, this might make too much sense to the point where it probably won't happen, but hey there's no harm in speculating. There's always the possibility of getting a good old fashioned 3 way trade where maybe the Celts find a way to bring back another guard. The point is, I see no reason why Brad Stevens shouldn't at least call

If there's one thing we know you need in the NBA in 2023, it's shooting. Hield has proven that he's one of the best and most consistent outside shooting threats we have. The defense certainly leaves more to be desired, but you can make up for that. Given his price and skillset, he could absolutely add a boost to a contender. 

So I'll ask you. Where do we think Hield ends up?