Having played for five teams in nine years, Buddy Hield is what you call an NBA journeyman. However, despite all of his travels, he has still played over half of his career games (385 of 714) with the Sacramento Kings. So, in a weird way, he does feel like "our" guy.
That is part of what makes his historic performance in Game 7 against the Houston Rockets so hard to swallow. In a win-or-go-home setting, Hield scored 33 points on 12-for-15 shooting from the floor and 9-for-11 shooting from three. His nine threes is tied for the most made threes in a Game 7 in NBA history (Donte DiVincenzo also hit nine threes in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals last year).
Another reason why this one hurts is that Hield did it while wearing a Golden State Warriors uniform. Given that they share a state,division, and have had some thrilling playoff/play-in battles over the last couple of years, the Warriors are definitely a rival of the Kings these days.
The Kings traded away Hield in the Haliburton/Sabonis trade
But that isn't even the worst piece of the pie. To top things off, Hield was also a part of the highly-debated Tyrese Haliburton/Domantas Sabonis trade during the 2022 Trade Deadline. Hield spent a year with the Pacers before being traded to the Philadelphia 76ers and then signing with the Golden State Warriors this past offseason.
While it has been an up-and-down series for Hield against the Rockets, he now officially has one more series win than the Kings have experienced since that deal.
The other major part of the package they sent out for Sabonis, Haliburton, is also thriving since his post-Kings days. Since leaving, Haliburton has become the face of a franchise, and he has three playoff series victories to his name (which is three more than the Kings have had in that time). He also just authored a rockstar performance in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the best team in the Eastern Conference.
Now, don't get it twisted. Sabonis is still a great player, and he has done everything in his power to help the Kings since joining the team. That is indisputable. But it does sting to see the guys we traded for him have so much success after leaving Northern California.