Warriors To Acquire Buddy Hield In Sign-And-Trade With Sixers

1:55pm: The Hield acquisition will indeed be part of a five-team mega-trade involving Golden State, Dallas, Charlotte, Minnesota and Philadelphia, sources tell Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link).

1:19pm: The Warriors are acquiring Buddy Hield in a sign-and-trade with the Sixers, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter link).

Golden State will be sending Philadelphia a 2031 second-round pick (via Dallas) as part of the transaction, sources tell Charania (Twitter link).

The second-rounder being sent to the 76ers is being acquired as part of the Klay Thompson sign-and-trade with the Mavs. That suggests the series of moves could still be folded together into one multi-team mega-deal.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), Hield will receive a four-year contract that will pay him a guaranteed $18MM over the first two seasons. The deal features a partial guarantee of $3MM in year three, while the fourth year is a non-guaranteed player option. It will start at $8.7MM, per The Athletic, which suggests the total value will be a little over $37MM, assuming 5% annual raises.

Charania reported on Tuesday night that the Warriors were pursuing Hield, and now a sign-and-trade agreement has come to fruition.

In 2023/24, Hield appeared in a league-high 84 regular season games, exceeding the typical 82-game limit as a result of a midseason trade that sent him from Indiana to Philadelphia. He averaged 12.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 25.7 minutes per game for the Pacers and Sixers, with a .386 3PT%.

Hield, 31, has never been known for his defense, but he’s a top-tier floor spacer, with a career mark of 40.0% from long distance (on high volume). He ranked No. 24 on our list of 2024’s top 50 free agents.

The Warriors have been very busy this offseason, agreeing to sign De’Anthony Melton to a one-year deal and to acquire both Kyle Anderson and Hield in the wake of Thompson’s departure.

Hield is currently competing for his home country, the Bahamas, in an Olympic qualifying tournament in Spain. If the team wins the tournament (it has already advanced to the semifinal), the Bahamas would advance to the 2024 Olympics in Paris, which begin at the end of July.

Cap expert Yossi Gozlan projects the Warriors, who are hard-capped at the first tax apron, to be right near that salary threshold ($178.1MM) with 14 players under contract (Twitter link).

The Sixers won’t create a trade exception as part of the transaction, since they’re operating under the cap.