Buddy Hield has gone cold for the Warriors and is clearly being punished

Exactly a month ago, we took a look at how Buddy Hield was doing in the NBA Sixth Man of the Year race, as the ninth-year veteran got off to a bright start for the Golden State Warriors.

In his first eight appearances with the Dubs, Hield averaged 21.1 points per game while shooting 51.7 percent from the floor and an absurd 50.7 percent from the three-point line. At that point, his 37 three-pointers made ranked third in the NBA, behind only Anthony Edwards and Jayson Tatum.

As a result, Hield had the second-fewest odds of winning Sixth Man of the Year at DraftKings at +500, trailing only Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard (+400).

However, the 31-year-old has faded since then. It’s not like he hasn’t had a few good games here and there over the last month, but overall he hasn’t been anywhere near as good as he was in the first few weeks of the season. And Hield has not only lost ground in the 6MOY race, but is also starting to lose minutes.

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In the Warriors’ last 14 games, Hield averaged just 9.8 points per game while shooting 37.9 percent from the floor and 35.2 percent from the three-point line. Of course, he made far fewer threes in that stretch, just 31 goals, finishing in a tie for 16th in that regard with 68 goals this season.

Hield has played particularly poorly since the calendar turned to December. In Golden State’s three games this month, he averaged just 5.0 points, shooting a dismal 25.0 percent from the field and a dismal 21.4 percent from distance.

As for his placement in the 6th Man of the Year race, he is still in the top five, but his odds have dropped significantly, down to +2500. Hield is now well behind Pritchard, who has a commanding lead at -275, and is now also behind Houston Rockets forward Amen Thompson (+1400), Atlanta Hawks forward De’Andre Hunter (+1600) and Philadelphia 76ers guard Jared McCain (+). 2000).

More importantly, Hield’s standing in Steve Kerr’s rotation also declines. Yes, he made his second start of the season, playing 27 minutes against the Rockets last Thursday night, but that’s only because Steph Curry was sidelined with knee problems.

With Curry back in the lineup Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Hield only saw 13 minutes as Kerr opted to give Lindy Waters III and Gary Payton II more time. And things look even worse when you consider that both Andrew Wiggins and Moses Moody left early due to injury.

All shooters go through dry spells. That’s just the nature of the game. But if Hield continues to struggle, Kerr may have no choice but to sit him even more than he already has.