For good or for ill, the Buddy Hield era has started for the Sacramento Kings. Vivek wanted him, and Vivek got him. Vivek always gets his man. Forget about that other dude that the used to have. You know, that guy who was always angry. Forget about him. He’s in the past. Buddy is the now. He’s the now, and the future.
16 points isn’t markedly different from what he was doing in New Orleans. The difference with this performance? This time he’s doing it in SACRAMENTO, which is in a whole different part of the country. Most of the fans in attendance probably hadn’t seen much of him since he got done dominating everybody in college, or maybe they had never seen him at all. Now they have.
Hield didn’t hit as many threes as everybody was hoping for, but at least he didn’t put up a total stinker. That was the main fear, I think. Not a good look for a franchise when the main piece you got for trading your “superstar” (note the quotation marks, those quotation marks add an extra layer of meaning to the word) puts up 4 points on 2-for-12 shooting. Kings fans are probably feeling pretty messed up right now, but imagine the reaction if that had happened. Not good.