In one of the most crucial areas, he could make a substantial impact.
Buddy Hield could still be a player that the Los Angeles Lakers could trade for
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Although the recent extension agreement between 3-and-D center Myles Turner and the Indiana Pacers seems to indicate mutual interest in keeping Turner with the team that drafted him for the long haul, that doesn’t mean your Los Angeles Lakers are out of the running for other Pacers veterans.
Even with Kendrick Nunn’s expiring deal no longer available as a trade chip for the Lakers, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report writes that 30-year-old shooting guard Buddy Hield could be a potential trade prospect for LA.
As Pincus points out, the current vice president of basketball operations for the Los Angeles Lakers, Rob Pelinka, has a special connection to Hield because he previously served as Hield’s agent.
According to ESPN’s Trade Machine, the Warriors could afford to pay Hield’s $22.8 million salary by combining the expiring $13 million contract of Patrick Beverley and the one-year, $6.5 million contract of wing Lonnie Walker IV.
Can we interest you in some Damian Jones, Indy? [LA could offer a veteran’s minimum contract to bring the price down]
Hield is a more valuable investment at $18.6 million than Walker, who is a one-year rental at this point. Although he is not as good as he once was, Beverley is still one of the Lakers’ better perimeter defenders.
While it could be a net positive for the Lakers, they might be better off adding a cheaper player (like the Spurs’ Josh Richardson or Doug McDermott) and keeping Walker in the future rather than trading him away for Beverley’s salary.
One of the best volume long-range snipers this season is Hield, who is averaging 8.9 threes per game and shooting 42.5% from deep. He averages 40.1% from beyond the arc for his career, making 7.1 shots per game.
On the league’s list of top ten three-point shooters this season, he ranks ninth, behind only Stephen Curry (8th) and Norm Powell (10th). He has attempted more three-point shots (463 so far) than any other player this year.
If you know anything about the Los Angeles Lakers, you know they have a terrible three-point shooting team. Walker is among the NBA’s best three-point shooters, but he cannot compare to Hield in terms of either efficiency or volume.
