Still Striving

Buddy Hield Was an Under-the-radar Radar Part of the Massive Pelicans-kings Trade Deadline Dline Swap Last Season, but He Managed to Put Up Solid Numbers in the Ensuing Months and Enters His Second Year in the League as the Centerpiece of a Legitimately Exciting Sacramento Rebuild.

- Leo Sepkowitz

DURING ALL-STAR SUNDAY this past February, Buddy Hield was at home in New Orleans, getting ready for a night out. His Pelicans were hosting All-Star Weekend, and though the main game had just wrapped, plenty of celebrating remained. Before leaving, Hield heard the jingle of an ESPN alert. He mindlessly picked up his phone and read off the screen. Change of plans. He was going to Sacramento in a deal for DeMarcus Cousins.

For Hield, a rookie, to be traded at all was bizarre, and to go to Sacramento was stunning. Sacramento? It was as far as could be from his native Bahamas, and nowhere near the southern states where he spent his teenage and college years.

“I didn’t watch Sacramento, didn’t know what they did,” Hield says. “I was caught in a daze. But I had to go on to the next team. I decided to try to turn the franchise around.”

That’s a tall order. The Kings have not been good in more than a decade. In 2002, Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic and Vlade Divac led a memorably selfless team to the Conference Finals. Sadly, though, a litany of injuries and odd trades cursed that era and plagued the ones that followed. Just a few years ago, the franchise nearly left town altogether.

And yet, Hield’s goal is not out of reach. Yes, hope springs eternal in Sacramento thanks to one of the League’s more intriguing young cores. This season, the Kings will feature 10 players with zero-to-two years of NBA experience, with nine first round picks among them. Hield is the movement’s centerpiece.