Lakers News: NBA Fans Clamoring For Buddy Hield-To-L.A. Trade
Following your Los Angeles Lakers' 123-109 opening night loss to the Golden State Warriors, NBA fans all over the Twittersphere thought the club needed a massive perimeter shooting upgrade.
And everyone had one candidate in mind: Indiana Pacers shooting guard Buddy Hield. The 6'4" guard is a career 39.8% shooter on 7.6 attempts per game from beyond the three-point arc. He split the 2021-22 season between the Sacramento Kings and Indiana, averaging 15.6 points a game on .406/.366/.874 shooting splits. Though a sub-par defender (i.e. not someone who would help with L.A.'s second-biggest problem this year), Hield is an elite long range sniper, and would thrive playing off gravity-warping players like LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Though the Lakers almost traded for Hield last summer before foolishly going all-in on Russell Westbrook instead, the deal most often floated these days would ship out Westbrook's expiring $47.1 million contract and some future first-round Lakers draft capital in exchange for Hield and Pacers big man Myles Turner, a rare floor-spreading defensive stalwart at the position.
Last night at the Chase Center, Los Angeles made just 10 of its 40 three-point attempts on the night (and one of those triples came in garbage time), a brutal sum.
Tiny Deaths vocalist Claire de Lune actually provided a running commentary throughout the evening that's well worth a look, but in terms of her Buddy Hield (and Myles Turner) pining, here's that pertinent tweet:
The Draymond Green Show podcast producer Jackson Safon taunted the Lakers for infamously not getting the deal done (a fact that it seems someone in the team's front office leaked to the press):
Ry Cole, social media and programming manager for The Athletic, addressed Rob Pelinka himself about a potential deal:
Jason Patt of Clutch Points, Forbes and Blog-A-Bull thinks last night's tepid shooting performance will more or less lock in a future Hield deal:
Rob Pelinka, pick up that phone!
