So much for a quiet deadline day for the Indiana Pacers. According to ESPN, Buddy Hield has been traded to the Philadelphia 76ers for Marcus Morris, Furkan Korkmaz, and three 2nd-round picks.
Sports Illustrated’s Tony East reported details on what the second-round picks exactly are: a 2024 2nd that currently sits at 36th and two unprotected 2029 2nds via the Clippers and Trail Blazers.
Call me Jon Snow because I know nothing. After making the case for why I believed the Pacers would not trade Buddy Hield unless they got something back that would help them this season, they did exactly that with three second-round picks and two veteran players that likely wouldn’t crack the rotation.
None of these things that they received in the trade will help the Pacers this season so it’s highly possible that they may not be done for today. As it stands removing Hield from the rotation opens up a spot on the wing for rookie Ben Sheppard who has impressed with his defense and energy of late.
Both Tyrese Haliburton and TJ McConnell talked about the value of Hield to the roster in recent days with his gravity offensively providing immense spacing to the offense and Haliburton having a ton of comfort and confidence in a guy he’s played with for his entire NBA career.
Hield was traded on the 2-year anniversary of the trade that sent Haliburton and Hield to the Pacers for Domas Sabonis. In that short amount of time, Hield ranks 5th all-time for most 3-pointers made in Pacers history.
Will the Pacers make another move? They have about 4 hours.
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