Sacramento Kings Report Card: Buddy Hield
By Tyler Watts
This series examines the Sacramento Kings players’ most recent season giving them a performance grade. Today we will take a look at Buddy Hield.
The last 12 months have been quite the whirlwind for Buddy Hield. At this time last year, he had just finished his senior season at the University of Oklahoma. He shined on the court in the NCAA averaging 25.0 points per game and winning a laundry list of awards. Hield was eventually he was selected sixth overall in the NBA Draft by the New Orleans Pelicans, and his NBA journey began.
It was a slow start with the Pelicans. Hield was consistently a reserve playing around 20 minutes a night and struggling. In his 57 games with the Pelicans, Hield averaged 8.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.6 three-pointers made in 20.4 minutes a game. He shot well from the foul line (87.9) and beyond the arc (36.9%) but struggled mightily from the field (39.2%). It was a standard rookie campaign adjusting to the faster NBA game and dealing with being a reserve player for the first time in your life (or at least a few years). Then his entire season changed during the All-Star break.
Buddy’s New Home
The Sacramento Kings decided to move on from All-Star DeMarcus Cousins, and in return, they acquired Hield and a first round pick in the 2017 NBA draft as the pillars of their haul. The Kings allowed Buddy the freedom to start and play significant minutes, and he showed his potential at that time.
Let us take a closer look at Buddy Hield’s on-court exploits in his time with the Kings to justify the performance grades he received.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: For this series, the players on the Kings will be graded on a curve, meaning that the grades handed out to each player reflect more about their ranking on the team rather than their actual performance output.