Should New York Knicks Trade For Indiana Pacers' Buddy Hield?
The New York Knicks have built a contending roster as the 2023-24 season's tip-off looms ... but are they done making additions?
Bleacher Report, listing "sneaky" trades to spice up the upcoming campaign, suggests that the Knicks trade Evan Fournier and a top-10 protected 2024 first-round pick that originally came from the Dallas Mavericks for Indiana Pacers guard Buddy Hield.
"As soon as word got around that Hield, who's on the final season of his contract, had hit the trade market, that should've gotten the Knicks' full attention," Bleacher Report's Zach Buckley writes. "It just so happens New York has a perfect money-matcher in Fournier, plus all kinds of draft assets to offer an Indiana team that could be competitive this season but might still be a year or two away from a full-fledged breakout."
"A top-10-protected pick may not sound super enticing, but for a shooting specialist on an expiring deal, that might be the best the Pacers can get."
Indiana Pacers wing Buddy Hield could be a trade target for the New York Knicks.
USA Today Sports
Hield, 31, is in the last season of a four-year contract that will pay him $18.5 million. Fournier, long-removed from the Knicks' rotation, is owed $18.8 million with a $19 million team option to follow.
Set to enter his eighth year after the New Orleans Pelicans made him the sixth overall pick of the 2016 draft, Hield is known for his three-point shooting prowess, having shot 40.2 percent from deep on 7.7 attempts per game in his career. For his career, he has averaged 16.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists between New Orleans, Sacramento, and Indiana. Hield has also remained remarkably durable, playing at least 70 games in each of his first seven seasons.
Last year, New York shot 35.4 percent from beyond the arc which ranked 19th among all NBA teams, but they were dead-last among the 16 NBA playoff competitors as the only group to shoot less than 30 percent. The best three-point shooter to play at least 30 games for the Knicks last year was star point guard Jalen Brunson, who shot a career-high 41.6 percent.
