After contract extension negotiations stalled, Buddy Hield and the Indiana Pacers have begun dialogue to work on finding a potential trade with another team, according to league sources.
Hield is open to a trade elsewhere, according to opposing team sources, but no deal is imminent and there are no current significant talks with any other team. The Pacers did offer Hield an extension in recent weeks, but it’s believed their offer didn’t make the seven-year guard feel wanted, league sources said.
Hield is in the final year of his contract for the 2023-24 season at $19.2 million and is set to become one of the top free agents next summer. Hield is the NBA leader in 3-pointers made over the past five seasons with 1,381. Golden State’s Stephen Curry (1,261) and Portland’s Damian Lillard (1,118) rank second and third, behind Hield’s streak of 3-pointers over the past five years.
Several teams are expected to express interest in a possible trade for Hield and those conversations are expected to continue as NBA training camps open over the next two weeks.
Hield joined the Pacers during the 2021-22 season in the Tyrese Haliburton trade from the Sacramento Kings and immediately emerged as a positive veteran leader and productive running mate alongside Haliburton’s franchise foundation. Hield, 30, averaged 16.8 points and five rebounds while shooting 42.5 percent from 3-point range last season.
“I love Buddy,” said Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard last April. “There are some things he does off the court, the way he keeps practice light.”
(Photo: Trevor Ruszkowski / USA Today)