If there’s one resident of the NBA’s business block who deserves to be a contender this season, it’s not James Harden or Damian Lillard, but newcomer Buddy Hero. At least the women’s time was close to a conference final. Hero has never navigated playoff waters. His 548 games without a playoff appearance are the longest loss for an active player, with a margin of 200 games.
However, Shams Charania’s report that the Indiana Pacers and Held have agreed to find him a new home for the upcoming season after contract negotiations broke down should open ears in the NBA offices. After Harden and Lillard, Held becomes the third wheel to cross the NBA’s commercial block. Held doesn’t have the star power to make demands on his next team, but his relatively affordable salary of $19 million in the final year of a four-year contract makes it easy to defer his contract.
Hield’s unique skills as one of the most accurate long-range archers in the League make him a swing player capable of giving a slight advantage to playoff teams. Of course, all this is theoretical, because he has never been there. The last time we saw Hero in the playoffs, he was the runaway player of the year after leading Oklahoma to a Final Four.
As a professional, Held recorded six of the 12 cases in which a shooter used more than 40% of his 3-pointers on at least eight attempts per game in NBA history. It took him fewer games to reach 1000 3-pointers than any other player of all time. In December, he made the fastest Triple after the Tipoff in the 40-year existence of the NBA 3-point line.
In 2018, No Player scored more three-pointers than hield’s 1,381 triples. Granted, most of his 3-pointers are capture-and-shoot variants, but if you have to choose between Hero and Klay Thompson in 2023, you’ll get more consistency from Held. But they call Thompson, Match 6 Klay, not without reason. He, Steph Curry and Draymond Green produced championships and finals on the assembly line.
However, hield’s eternal virginity in the playoffs overshadowed the narrative of his career. Although he has one of the most important skills for a modern NBA offense, he is stuck in teams stuck in quicksand. The career-high Hiields lost 42 the night after Kobe Bryant’s death and Devin Booker’s loss in the 2020 3-point contest.
