Detroit Pistons: League’s best sharpshooter could hit the market

The Detroit Pistons have an open roster spot and will be looking for creative ways to improve the team over the next season.

They could be busy at the trade deadline, as the Pistons have six expiring contracts and if they have no plans to re-sign them, will want to get something in return before they walk for nothing.

But Troy Weaver may also be looking to deal before then, as he did last year by making a September trade for Bojan Bogdanovic

And there is an interesting name that could be on the trade block soon.

Detroit Pistons: League’s best sharpshooter could hit the market

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic (SUBSCRIPTION), Buddy Hield could be traded after he and the Indiana Pacers were unable to come to an agreement on a new contract.

The 30-year-old Hield is on an expiring deal that will pay him just over $19 million for next season and he clearly wasn’t satisfied with the Pacers’ offer.

Hield is arguably the league’s best 3-point shooter (no really) as he has made more of them over the last five years than any player in the NBA, including Steph Curry and Damian Lillard.

When you look at his volume (7.7 attempts per game for his career) and accuracy (over 40 percent for his career), Hield puts himself in the conversation for the greatest shooters in NBA history.

He’s also a very reliable player who has played all 82 games twice in his career and has never played fewer than 71 in a season. These are all things the Detroit Pistons need, but there isn’t an immediately obvious trade that could land them Hield.

They could swap Bojan Bogdanovic, but given that both are shooters who aren’t great defenders, this would be a lateral move that would only add to their logjam at guard.

It would allow the Detroit Pistons to start Ausar Thompson right away and get a little younger and more athletic, but they would then be the team stuck with trying to negotiate a new deal with Hield, which isn’t easy considering he’s a one-dimensional player whose value to winning is debatable.

A more desirable move for Detroit would be to build a package around Alec Burks and one of Killian Hayes and/or Marvin Bagley III, but it’s unclear if Indiana would have any interest.

According to Charania, nothing is imminent, but Hield will be a name to watch as the offseason draws to a close.