Will Buddy Hield be a member of the Kings' roster when the 2020-21 NBA season begins?
That is one of the many questions facing new Kings general manager Monte McNair, and it appears he isn’t ready to move on from his high scoring guard just yet.
According to Sean Deveney of Forbes, an unnamed NBA GM has told him that the Kings have yet to put Hield on the block.
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“I think it makes a lot of sense, them trying to move him, start with a clean slate, they were better without him in the starting five, all of that,” the GM told Deveney. “The logic is there. But there does not seem to be a lot of action there, not yet at least. It is not something where they seem to be shopping him very actively. Maybe it would be better to wait, to see how the season starts, but I don’t get the sense that they’re out there really laying the groundwork for a deal. They’re just not yet shopping him.”
Hield is one of the best 3-point marksmen in the NBA. He finished last season averaging 19.2 points on 39.4 percent shooting from long range for Sacramento and he’s about to enter the first year of a four-year, $86 million that can go above $100 million with incentives.
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Negotiations with former Kings GM Vlade Divac became contentious last October as the team prepared for the regular season. Hield eventually signed an extension with Sacramento, but he wasn’t happy about the dollar figure and he became even less enamored with his situation with the Kings when he lost his starting job to Bogdan Bogdanovic in February.
NBA
According to a league source, the Kings expect Hield in camp whenever the league opens back up for business. They know that he is an extremely hard worker and he will be ready for the season.
McNair wants the Kings to run an uptempo offense, which promises plenty of 3-point opportunities for Hield, whether he’s starting or coming off the bench. McNair also has a major decision to make on Bogdanovic, who enters the offseason as a restricted free agent.
There are a lot of moving pieces in play for Sacramento and there still is plenty of time before the NBA Draft on Nov. 18 and the free agency period that will follow sometime after.
Expect McNair and his staff to be active as they attempt to build out the Kings on the fly. It’s possible that Hield is part of his vision for the future. It’s also possible that a deal comes along that the Kings’ new GM can’t walk away from.