The Sixers are still basking in the afterglow of having signed Paul George. But doing so — offering the 34 year-old small forward out of Fresno, a $212M four-year contract, has left them in a bit of a cap crunch. They were able to lock up Tyrese Maxey on a $204M deal of his own, one that the first-time All-Star deserved.
But the reason the team was able to sign PG in the first place was because they didn’t take on any long-term salary either last offseason, or around the 2024 NBA Trade Deadline.
Our Paul Hudrick wrote about the guts it took Daryl Morey to thread the needle there, doing what it took to help the team last season, without costing themselves the chance to pursue bigger fish last week.
One “needle-thread” move they did make, however, was when they acquired former Kings, and Pacers guard, Buddy Hield last February. Hield had his moments in a Sixers’ uni, but once Joel Embiid went down with a torn meniscus, he didn’t really deliver what coach Nick Nurse was hoping for.
And now it appears as if the Bahama Mamba may be departing for the Golden State Warriors.
Per Shams Charania, of The Athletic and FanDuelTV:
Just In: The Golden State Warriors are in serious talks on a sign-and-trade deal to acquire Buddy Hield, league sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Warriors and 76ers have been in deep discussions, working to finalize the deal for one of the NBA’s best three-point shooters. pic.twitter.com/s3sajpWx69
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 3, 2024
We’ve yet to get more details, but you can be sure that Philadelphia would love to recoup any type of asset, even if it were merely a future second-round pick or a trade exception.
We won’t expect miracles here but anything like that would be better than letting Hield, acquired for a couple of second-round picks, (while also parting ways with Marcus Morris, Sr. and Furkan Korkmaz in a three team trade that also included the San Antonio Spurs) walk for nothing return.
The Golden State Warriors recently bid fairwell to future Hall of Famer, Klay Thompson, a four-time champion with The Dubs, so apparently their newish front office wanted to bolster the shooters that Steph Curry can work with.
Earlier on Tuesday, current Warrior, Draymond Green shared his thoughts on the Warriors push to land Paul George that fell apart when the Clippers didn’t want to play ball with a Conference rival. That was just one of the things Daryl Morey and the Sixers needed to go their way.
Philly still has a few first-rounders and some cap space to work with. There was recently a report from Hoops Hype’s Michael Scotto that Philadelphia could be interested in acquiring Brooklyn Nets’ wing Dorian Finney-Smith, or potentially Warriors’ Lester Quinones.
So we’ll see if LQ might not be exchanged for Hield. The Sixers have already had sad goodbyes with De’Anthony Melton (a Warrior) and Nico Batum (a Clipper once again). Now it sounds as if Buddy could be bound for the Warriors, joining Melton.