SAN FRANCISCO — Since the 2019-20 season, only one player has made more 3-pointers than Stephen Curry: Buddy Hield.
It took Hield more than 100 more games and 200 more attempts, but in terms of sheer volume from deep in the regular season, Hield has led the way.
So it would only be natural for Hield to come in and replace Klay Thompson, the franchise icon who helped change the game with Curry in the backcourt as a lethal 3-point shooter.
Not quite. For the Splash Bros to become the Splash Buddies, Hield will have to earn it.
“There’s no pressure,” Hield said Thursday at San Francisco State University.
“Just come in and do my job. What Klay has done for this organization has been tremendous. I loved watching him over the years, he’s special. The way he can get hot and the way he can change the game, the two-way player he is, the championship player he is. So I don’t look at it as pressure, but I think it’ll be fun just being in that role and seeing if I can get the same looks he got.”
Hield knows nobody can replicate what Thompson meant to the Bay Area or to the Warriors franchise. It would be ridiculous to try to mimic him in any way. The question for Hield, though, will be whether he can imitate at least some of the high-volume 3-point shooting off the catch that the Warriors lost when Thompson left.
The veteran said he hasn’t talked with the Warriors coaching staff in-depth about what his role with Golden State will be. Last season ended unceremoniously in Philadelphia, with a first-round exit and Hield mostly out of the rotation. With the Warriors, he looks to be firmly in the thick of a deep wing depth chart.
Hield’s uniquely structured contract pays him like a rotation player for two seasons ($18 million guaranteed), then gives the Warriors nearly complete autonomy ($3 million guaranteed in Year 3, then a partially guaranteed player option in 2027-28). The acquisition of him screams high upside, low risk.
The Warriors added Hield in a sign-and-trade via the six-team deal that involved Klay Thompson. He’s entering his ninth season and is a career 40% 3-point shooter — 14th all-time among players with at least 3,000 attempts. While Hield has been a relatively one-dimensional player in the NBA, he is one of the most durable players in the league and Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. complimented his off-ball defense.
This summer, Hield played for Warriors assistant coach Chris DeMarco on the Bahamian National Team , coming within a couple possessions of qualifying for the Olympics.
He and Thompson recruited DeMarco to Team Bahamas, Hield said, as they tried to establish more legitimacy for the small island nation.
Having experience with DeMarco could help smooth Hield’s transition to the Warriors. While his skill set fits Golden State’s need for more spacing, his time with Philadelphia last year after the trade deadline is a reminder that adjusting to a new team can be tough.
“I think from a shooting standpoint, Buddy really helps with losing Klay,” Dunleavy said in Las Vegas earlier this month. “But on top of that, I think there’s room for others to step up, in terms of volume and accuracy.”
Outside of Curry, Hield is the only reliable volume 3-point shooter on the roster. The team hopes Brandin Podziemski can get more comfortable shooting pull-up 3s and is optimistic Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga will improve, but none of them will command the type of attention from defenses Thompson did. Especially in lineups with Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis in the frontcourt, spacing will be at a premium.
In those lineups, Hield will likely have to share the court with someone who’s a better shooter than him — something he’s never done before in the NBA.
“Steph, I’ve been watching him my whole life,” Hield said. “Ready to learn, ready to watch him, see how he goes about his shooting mechanics, his routine. I think it’ll be interesting to learn from him.”
Hield has been watching the Warriors for their entire run, but there are in-house players who have more familiarity with Golden State’s system than him competing for minutes on the wing. The depth chart includes Kuminga, Moody, Andrew Wiggins and Gary Payton II as well as newbies Kyle Anderson, De’Anthony Melton and Hield.
Even despite eventually being removed from the starting lineup, Thompson averaged 29.7 minutes per game last season. After Kuminga and Wiggins, it’s possible no one in that cluster approaches that amount of playing time. Hield will have to separate himself from the group to establish himself in Steve Kerr’s rotation.
He doesn’t have Thompson’s championship DNA, so he won’t be grandfathered in. He’ll have to shoot himself into the mix.
“I know that they’re excited for me to be here, and I’m excited to be here,” Hield said.