The Milwaukee Bucks rival, the Indiana Pacers made an interesting trade during NBA deadline day with Indiana shopping Buddy Hield to the Philadelphia 76ers for Marcus Morris, Furkan Korkmaz, and three second-round picks, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Buddy Hield is 31 years old and has played in 52 games so far this season with Indiana. He averaged 12.0 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.7 APG, 0.6 BPG, and 0.8 SPG. Hield was a big part of the Indiana Pacers offense this season. The Pacers are currently sixth in the Eastern Conference with a 29-23 record and the Philadelphia 76ers are currently fifth in the Eastern Conference with a 30-20 record.
It is very possible that one of these two teams could face the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. Milwaukee is tied for the third seed with the New York Knicks with a 33-18 record this season. The 76ers will have center Joel Embiid out for a lengthy period of time due to injury and they felt like they needed to add another scorer.
Buddy Hield will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and it felt like Indiana wanted to get something for him, rather than losing him for nothing.
Milwaukee Bucks Faced the Indiana Pacers Five Times This Season and Lost Four of the Games When Buddy Hield Didn’t Do Much Damage
The Bucks faced the Pacers five times this season and lost to them four times. This is something to keep an eye on if they were to meet in the NBA Playoffs this season. When Buddy Hield faced the Bucks, his highest-scoring outing was 11 points, as he did not do much damage against them.
This trade is more about scoring insurance for the Philadelphia 76ers. They want to try and win now in a very tough Eastern Conference. It would not be a surprise to see the Milwaukee Bucks drop to the fourth seed and face Hield and the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
Hield’s name was mentioned on the trade market for quite some time. He could have been a nice piece for the Bucks roster, but the Pacers weren’t going to trade him in the division.