The Warriors guard is reaching a new low in an increasingly dire situation

Through the first seven games of the season, there were very few players in the entire NBA as hot as Buddy Hield. The Golden State Warriors guard made 33 3-pointers and six appearances with at least 20 points.

If this was Hield’s feast, then the experienced sniper is certainly experiencing famine at the moment. The 31-year-old has been the hero of Golden State’s early season form, but now his minutes are starting to be affected by his recent poor form.

Since the first eight games of the season, Hield has scored more than 12 points in just three of his last 14 games. During that time, he averaged just 9.8 points per game while shooting 37.9% from the field and 35.2% from 3-point range.

Hield did play over 27 minutes in Thursday’s 99-93 win over the Houston Rockets, but that was more of a necessity given his shooting threat in the absence of Stephen Curry. He had just five points on 1 of 8 shooting and 1 of 6 from distance, allowing Jonathan Kuminga and Andrew Wiggins to close the gap in the six-point win.

When Curry returned to action Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Hield was forced back to the bench and didn’t enter the game until the final possession of the first quarter. He ended up playing a season-low 13 minutes and 22 seconds and failed to make an impact with four points, three rebounds and three turnovers while missing both of his 3-point attempts.

Minutes were to be gained as Andrew Wiggins and Moses Moody were both out of the game early in the second half, but Steve Kerr got the better of the likes of Lindy Waters III and Gary Payton II, both of whom saw more minutes than Hield.

Unless things could get worse for Hield, his minutes were actually inflated by the fact that he played the last few minutes of garbage time in the fourth quarter. This is a new low for Bahamian this season, suggesting Kerr was keen to try and get him into a rhythm.

Hield was named the sparkplug scorer off the bench, and he delivered that and more in the first two weeks of the season. But if he’s not shooting threes regularly, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that his impact is severely limited, as his defense is often a liability, not to mention he’s averaged nearly 1.5 turnovers per assist over the last 14 games .