As training camps get set to begin around the NBA, preseason transaction news is starting to pick up now that front offices are all back from vacation and trying to get rosters set prior to the arrival of players to camp.
While much of the focus is on the star trade requests in Portland and Philadelphia, where Damian Lillard and James Harden remain on their current teams for now, other veterans may start coming available as extension talks come and go. One of those is Buddy Hield, who has apparently had contract talks stall out with the Pacers and the two sides will now start looking at finding a possible trade for the sharpshooter, per Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Hield is open to a trade elsewhere, according to rival team sources, but no deal is imminent and there aren’t any current substantive talks with any other team. The Pacers did offer Hield an extension in recent weeks, but it’s believed their proposal did not make the seven-year guard feel desired, league sources said.
Hield is entering the final season of his current deal, and given his value as an elite three-point shooter, the Pacers would certainly rather get something back in return for him than see him simply walk next summer. If the two sides are as far apart as it seems on what each perceives as a fair deal for him going forward, it would make sense for Indiana to canvas the league and see if a team is willing to part with players and assets that could help them achieve their longterm plans.
Hield should have plenty of interested teams as he scored 16.8 points per game, knocking down 42.5 percent of his three-point attempts, a year ago and is a career 40.2 percent shooter from beyond the arc. The question will be whether there’s a team willing to part with a package the Pacers want in return now, or if Indiana will choose to wait this out to closer to the trade deadline when teams tend to be a bit more aggressive in trying to make roster upgrades that are needed.