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The slumping Philadelphia 76ers have acquired guard Buddy Hield from the Indiana Pacers for Marcus Morris Jr., Furkan Korkmaz and three second-round draft picks, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the trade was not yet official.
Sixers president Daryl Morey made the move hours ahead of the NBA trade deadline, with the Sixers tumbling down the Eastern Conference standings without injured All-Star Joel Embiid.
The 76ers are 4-12 without Embiid and will be without the reigning MVP for at least month—if not much longer—following knee surgery this week.
Hield will earn $19.2 million this season in the final year of a four-year contract. He averaged 12 points this year in 52 games with the Pacers, below his 16.1 career average in seven seasons. He is a career 40% three-point shooter. Hield made just 28 starts this year but should see an expanded role on a Sixers team hit hard by injuries and illness.
Hield set the Pacers franchise record for three-pointers last season, with 288, topping the previous mark by Reggie Miller.
He won the 2020 Three-Point Contest at NBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago, topping Devin Booker 27–26 in the final round.
The Sixers have lost seven of eight games.
The 6-foot-8 Morris, 34, is averaging 6.7 points and 2.9 rebounds this season and has career averages of 12.1 points and 4.5 rebounds in 15 seasons.
The 6-foot-7 Korkmaz, 26, is in his fifth season in the NBA, all with Philadelphia, and is averaging 3.8 points and 1.1 rebounds this season, below his career averages of 7.4 points and 2.1 rebounds.
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Morris is excellent. Hopefully he is healthy (has missed a number of games recently with a foot injury). Curious who will spread out opposing defenses without Buddy’s volume 3 ball threat.
Note to KP: Annual ‘musical chairs’ with 6’4” – 6’ 8” personnel without true NBA level ‘bigs’ will net nothing. Steph Curry and the Warriors may be the one exception…and they were losing until an undersized Green came back. Best example: 76ers.