Buddy Hield is OK not being the best shooter on his team

On some teams, Hield would have an argument. Not on the Warriors

From 2021-23, Buddy Hield made the second-most three-pointers in the NBA. Each season, he finished behind a member of the Golden State Warriors.

Now the newest Warrior is excited to go into a season where, for the first time in his career, he’s not the best shooter on his team, and it’s not even in question.

Hield is a career 40% shooter from deep. He’s made 1,924 triples, good for 22nd all time, and it likely to pass luminaries like Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, and Joe “Iso Joe” Johnson this season. That’s also less than half of Steph Curry’s career total.

That’s who Hield is eager to learn from next season, calling himself a “sponge.” That’s also what Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive envisioned when he traded DeMarcus “Boogie” Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans for Hield and a first-round pick in 2017, reportedly proclaiming that Hield had “Steph Curry potential.”

Ranadive is a former Warriors minority owner and loves hiring former Warriors coaches. So perhaps his enthusiasm was misplaced when it came to Hield, who is an elite shooter but not much of a playmaker with 2.6 assists per game for his career. He’s made a lot of three-pointers at high volume, but he’s a catch-and-shoot guy: 92% of his three-pointers last season were assisted.

Hield did play with another elite shooter in Tyrese Haliburton for the last few years. They were traded as a pair in the deal that brought Domantas Sabonis to Sacramento, and while Haliburton’s shot looks much stranger than Hield’s, he had an argument to being the best shooter.

Haliburton, if you recall, had a phenomenal pre-draft workout for the Warriors in 2020, but they preferred James Wiseman because he made his bed every morning. Now the Warriors have added a different sharpshooting Indiana Pacer, and a different Bahamian sharpshooter to succeed (but not replace) Klay Thompson.

One reason to believe Hield will thrive with the Warriors is how much better he is on wide-open threes. He shot 39% on all three-pointers last season, but made 44.1% of his threes when a defender was six feet or more away from him. By comparison, Curry shot 45.4% of such shots, and former Warrior Donte DiVincenzo made 44.9% of his.

DiVincenzo is a good analogue for what the Warriors are expecting to get from Hield. Supplementary offense and knocking down open shots, albeit with fewer rebounds and dunks than what the Warriors had from the Michael Jordan of Delaware. Hield has never had the kind of spacing he’ll get playing alongside Curry, however, which should allow him to thrive. And as part of a reserve group including some excellent defenders with a shoot-second attitude (Kyle Anderson, De’Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II), Hield should have one of the greenest green lights of his career.

No one can replace Klay Thompson, just like no one can match Steph Curry’s shooting. But for two years and $21 million, the Warriors have to be pleased by getting Kirkland-brand Steph Curry. Hield is like the Costco version of the baby-faced assassin: Maybe he’s not the absolute top of the line, but the Dubs are getting a lot of volume at a respectable level of quality. For a team that’s starting to shop within a budget, he’s a great addition.