Rising star
Former OU player Buddy Hield has found a new team and consistent role in the NBA.
LOS ANGELES —The clock crept toward the end of the first quarter and unbeknown to the crowd assembled on a weekday in California, it was time for the Buddy Hield Show.
No, not in Friday’s Rising Stars Challenge. Flip it back to Nov. 7.
Maybe Hield wouldn’t have been in the showcase game of first- and second-year players if not for an explosion against the Thunder in Sacramento more than three months ago.
Maybe Hield, the University of Oklahoma product with the sweet shooting stroke, wouldn’t have been in the spotlight at the Staples Center if he was absent a selflessness and flexibility uncommon from a Top 10 pick.
For the second year in a row, Hield represented Team World in the Rising Stars Challenge, but since his first time at AllStar weekend, the former OU star has found a new team and consistent role in the NBA.
On Friday, Hield scored a team-high 29 points to lead Team World to a 155124 win against Team USA. And for the second consecutive year, Hield was trumped by a teammate for the game’s Most Valuable Player honors.
World guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, who’s also Hield’s teammate in Sacramento, had 26 points and seven 3-pointers off the bench to take home the award. But Friday was just an exhibition. Fittingly, Bogdanovic’s performance off the bench and Hield’s early-season game against Oklahoma City is what the former OU star’s role should look like.
In his first full season in Sacramento after getting traded the day of the AllStar Game in 2017, Hield finally had the starting role many expected of him when he was selected No. 6 overall by New Orleans in 2016.
It wasn’t the right fit. The normally cool Bahamian with the big smile was to his own admission chasing the game. Compounded by the Kings
losing six of its first seven games of the season with Hield as the starting shooting guard were his personal struggles — shooting just 35.4 percent from the field, 22.6 percent from 3-point range.
Two games before the Thunder came to town, Hield was slotted back into a second-unit role against Boston by Sacramento coach Dave Joerger, and the 24-year-old didn’t bristle.
“I think coach making the decision to bring me off the bench was probably the best decision,” Hield said Nov. 1 after his breakout bench performance (17 points, 7-of-11 field goals) against Boston. “I think it’s good for me, to help me, slow down a little bit and let the game come to me.”
Even when Hield was coming off a Naismith Award-winning season as a senior at OU and was receiving interest from teams in the Top 10 of the 2016 draft, there were still questions about how he would adjust to the NBA. He was the second-oldest player drafted in the lottery, just 31 days younger than Denzel Valentine, who was selected eight spots later. He wasn’t an explosive athlete. His defense was a question mark.
Hield in part went to OU because of the freedom on offense afforded to him by coach Lon Kruger, even though he didn’t have the “OK” to shoot freely like phenom Trae Young has had as a freshman. “I wish he (Kruger) did that with me the first year, too,” Hield joked Friday in Los Angeles.
“(But) we come at different times. I came in where we had guys that were seniors. We had Romero Osby, Steven Pledger, Sam Grooms, Cam Clark, guys that were ahead of us. They just kind of paved the way for us, and we had to pay our dues to get the green light.”
Of course, Hield wants to be a starter, but he’s never let the desire to play a bigger role undermine his team goals or overshadow an understanding of where he fits. Since reverting back to a bench role, Hield has climbed to 13th in the NBA in 3-point field goal percentage (42.5), taking the most threes per game (4.9) for a team which attempts the third-fewest in the league.
With George Hill traded to Cleveland last week, Hield is the best 3-point shooter statistically for the Kings, who despite their 18-39 record, have the second-highest 3-point percentage in the NBA (38.2).
“There’s a lot of pressure to make shots,” Hield said. “It’s fun. “But this is the fun with the NBA. You’ve got to compete each and every day and boost yourself up.”
Coming off the bench was just the boost Hield needed, culminating with his surge against the Thunder en route to 21 points (4-of-4 from 3) and seven rebounds in a stunning Kings win. It was the jumpoff point to another Rising Stars campaign.
Hield has gone from an All-Star weekend trade piece in New Orleans to finding himself with a team that coveted him in Sacramento. The trade deadline passed last week with Hield in the same place, but most importantly, the same role, a role right for him.
“I know this All-Star, I won’t be getting traded,” Hield said. “So, I’ll be good.”