Buddy Hield's Top Potential Landing Spots amid Pacers Trade Rumors

The Indiana Pacers are once again shopping Buddy Hield.

Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported the Pacers and Hield were unable to reach a contract extension, leading to Indiana putting the three-point specialist on the market.

No serious suitors have emerged to this point, but there will not be a shortage given Hield's skill set and the fact the trade price will not be astronomical with his contract due to expire at the end of next season.

Here is a look at a few teams that could emerge in the coming weeks (or months).

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Los Angeles Lakers

I know what you're thinking, but no, you did not accidentally click on an article from September 2022. This is 2023 and we once again are talking about Hield potentially becoming a Laker.

The Lakers and Pacers batted around a Hield and Myles Turner for Russell Westbrook and draft picks for several months last year. Indiana eventually moved on and signed Turner to a long-term extension, while the Lakers waited until midseason to ship Westbrook out and overhaul their roster around LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Now is a chance to potentially undo that wrong.

There may not be a single role player better suited to play with late-career James than Hield. He is an efficient, high-volume three-point shooter who can catch fire in a moment's notice. He also doesn't need the ball in his hands to be effective and create gravity, which will make James' life easier driving to the rim as lateral quickness takes a nosedive.

The Lakers also have a straightforward offer of D'Angelo Russell and future second-round picks on the table as soon as Russell is eligible to be traded. Russell floundered in the 2023 playoffs and was largely brought back because the Lakers weren't going to be able to replace him with cap exceptions.

Moving Russell for Hield would also allow Austin Reaves to take a more ball-dominant role in the offense. As it stands, Reaves and Russell are going to be wrestling back and forth for the secondary ball-handler role behind James. One of the two will lose that battle and ultimately wind up either unhappy or overpaid and fading into the background.

On paper, Hield slots in perfectly and could allow Reaves to blossom into a true star.

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Boston Celtics

Malcolm Brogdon doesn't appear particularly happy with the Celtics and just so happens to have a $22.5 million salary that would work for matching purposes with Hield. Adding Hield doesn't do anything to solve Boston's desperate need for a reliable primary ball-handler, but neither did Brogdon as he was floundering in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Miami throttled Boston's stagnant and predictable offense, and the Celtics front office has clearly taken on an offense-over-defense strategy this offseason. Adding Kristaps Porzingis at the expense of Marcus Smart (and Grant Williams) made that much clear, and moving Hield for Brogdon adds more critical floor spacing as Jayson Tatum takes on additional ball-handling responsibilities.

Brogdon-for-Hield is an imperfect solution, but it may be the only one Boston has before the start of the regular season. It's likely Brogdon will show up to camp and be the good soldier despite his frustrations; I'm just not sure it matters. He's a grumbling sixth man who doesn't shift the needle when it counts.

If the Celtics can find an available point guard in Brogdon's price range, they should float his name out there along with future firsts and get the job done. If they can't, Hield is a potentially prolific scorer who could take away some of the burden on Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs are eventually going to have to build a functional basketball team around Victor Wembanyama. Right now, they're a mismatched collection of players who would do more harm than help for Wembanyama's development if it weren't for the guiding hand of Gregg Popovich behind the scenes.

Wemby may eventually develop into a two-way superstar who bends the way we look at basketball, but he's not that at the moment. His shooting ability is more theoretical than actualized, and it's going to be two or three years before he'll be able to develop a reliable jumper (if he does).

As it stands, San Antonio is surrounding its non-shooter future superstar with a roster full of mediocre-at-best floor spacers—the exact type of players who will limit his offensive freedom as he develops. Adding Hield to the mix would give the Spurs at least one elite shooter who creates gravity and potentially two when he shares the floor with Doug McDermott.

The Spurs would understandably balk at giving up much for Hield, and Hield himself may not want to take part in a rebuild. But there's logic in a marriage here.