The Philadelphia 76ers have interest in Indiana Pacers shooting guard Buddy Hield ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline, per Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.
Hield is in the final year of his contract and the Pacers are open to trading him.
“Philadelphia is exploring conversations with a variety of teams, but one known target for the Sixers is Pacers guard Buddy Hield, league sources told Yahoo Sports,” Fischer wrote in an NBA insider piece. “Hield’s $18.5 million salary would be a match for several of the Sixers’ expiring contracts, and his expiring deal wouldn’t add future financial burden onto Philadelphia’s clean cap sheet for this offseason, as the Sixers have left rival teams with the impression they are still wary of taking back longterm salary at this juncture.”
Hield, 31, turned down an extension offer from the Pacers, setting himself up for a better offer or free agency. But also setting himself up to potentially be traded.
He is averaging 12.0 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists, shooting 44 percent from the field and 38 percent on 3-pointers.
Philadelphia could be in for a long stretch with All-Star center Joel Embiid, who’s expected to miss at least another month following knee surgery. The Sixers (30-19) have dropped to fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings, though the race remains air tight. They’ve already made one large trade this season, seeing former guard James Harden and forward P.J. Tucker to the Los Angeles Clippers for forwards Kenyon Martin Jr., Marcus Morris Sr., Robert Covington and guard Nicolas Batum.
Sixers head of basketball operations Daryl Morey is generally pretty aggressive, so it would be surprising if he made another trade in the wake of the Embiid news.
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