March 23, 2024
Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports
After a tremendous start to his Sixers career, a brutal slump has led to Buddy Hield's playing time rapidly declining.
After the Sixers acquired sharpshooter Buddy Hield from the Indiana Pacers on the day of the NBA Trade Deadline, team President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey proudly proclaimed that he believed Hield was the single best player traded that day.
The Sixers sent Indiana the expiring salaries of Marcus Morris Sr. and Furkan Korkmaz, along with three second-round draft choices, in exchange for Hield.
"We felt like he gave us exactly what we were looking for," Morey said in his media availability following the trade deadline. "We feel like our healthy group, our playoff rotation with Buddy Hield, is right there with everyone in the entire league."
Early returns indicated that Morey was correct about Hield's value. Hield was immediately inserted into the starting lineup for a Sixers team decimated by injuries, and he flourished. In Hield's first four games as a Sixer, head coach Nick Nurse displayed a tremendous amount of confidence in the newcomer, who logged nearly 39 minutes per game. The playing time was earned: during those four games, Hield scored at least 20 points in every contest, averaging 22.3 points to go with 7.5 assists and four rebounds. Hield also knocked down 45 percent of his looks from beyond the arc while averaging a gargantuan 10 three-point attempts per game.
Five weeks later, though, the trade now appears considerably less shrewd than those early returns may have led many to believe.
Hield's performance has drastically declined, and he has seen his role do the same: Hield was moved from the starting lineup to the bench two weeks ago. Initially, Nurse framed the move as nothing more than a change of scenery for Hield, who would still be a critical part of the team's rotation. Nurse explained that it can do a player some good to be "hidden" as a bench piece, as it may lead to opposing teams focusing less on limiting that player.
But as Hield has gotten reacclimatized to a bench role — only 28 of his 52 appearances as a Pacer this season came in starts — he has seen his minutes totals decline tremendously. Taking a look at his playing time numbers in four-game intervals from the start of his Sixers tenure until the present day is jarring:
| Four-game stretches | Minutes per game |
| Feb. 9-14 | 38.9 |
| Feb. 22-27 | 30.4 |
| March 1-6 | 29.7 |
| March 8-14 | 23.9 |
| March 16-22 | 18.0 |
Hield had never logged fewer than 20 minutes in a game since joining the Sixers until he played fewer than 15 minutes in a loss at the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night. Then, it Friday night's road loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, he played just under 13 minutes.
The most valuable aspect of Hield's game has always been his three-point shooting. But those 7.5 assists per game over his first four contests as a Sixer indicated that he had untapped potential as someone who can create shots for others, something he had never done consistently in his seven-plus-year NBA career. Hield was turnover-prone during that period as well, but it was a fair trade given how starved the Sixers were for playmaking.
Fast forward to the end of March, and just about all of that creation ability appears to be gone. Hield has rarely set up others over the last few weeks in the way he was in his first handful of games after being traded to Philadelphia. Additionally, his finishing ability has gone from admirable to abominable; Hield continues to miss bunnies around the rim.
Hield was supposed to be a tremendous offensive weapon for Nurse to have at his disposal. But in recent games, he has been nothing but a spot-up three-point shooter.
If Hield ever gets the chance to play alongside reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid, perhaps his value will once again skyrocket. Embiid has been known to develop lethal two-man games with top-flight shooters: his partnership with JJ Redick was exemplary, and he helped Seth Curry put up career-best numbers during his year-plus with the Sixers. Hield is genuinely an elite three-point shooter, one of the greatest launchers the game has ever seen from a statistical perspective, but he looks entirely out of sorts right now.
As the Sixers attempt to scratch and claw their way out of the NBA's Play-In Tournament by earning one of the top six seeds in the Eastern Conference, every single regular season game is meaningful. For however long Embiid remains sidelined, first-time All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey needs all of the help he can possibly get on the offensive end of the floor. Over the last few weeks, Hield has been unable to step up, and his playing time continues to suffer as a result.
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