2025-26 Season
BUDDY HIELD
2025-26 Season
BUDDY HIELD
PBP Credit: Every play is analyzed from play-by-play data. Scorers get difficulty-adjusted credit, assisters get creation value based on the shot opportunity they created, and turnovers are classified by type. Shot difficulty is derived from 1M+ shots across 4 seasons. Full methodology
TEAM COMPARISON
of 16 teammates (10+ games, 10+ min)
Similar Players
Same position, closest production profile this season.
SKILL DNA
Percentile rank vs 245 Guards with 10+ games
THE SEASON SO FAR
A brutal, prolonged shooting slump defined Buddy Hield’s first twenty games, rendering him a severe liability whenever his perimeter touch abandoned him. Even when his raw point totals looked respectable, hidden costs often dragged down his overall value. During the 11/19 vs MIA matchup, Hield scored 18 points but posted a negative -0.7 impact score because he stubbornly chucked from beyond the arc at an extreme volume, hitting just 4 of his 15 deep attempts. His defensive flaws also compounded his cold stretches. In the 11/07 vs DEN game, Hield managed an abysmal -14.4 impact score despite scoring 8 points, as terrible rotational awareness and perimeter defensive lapses handed the opposition easy looks. Yet, he occasionally found ways to be useful without filling up the scoring column. During the 11/09 vs IND contest, he tallied a mere 8 points but recorded a stellar +6.1 impact by finding alternative ways to win, specifically dialing up his hustle (+4.0) and defensive engagement (+2.6). Unless he stops forcing bad shots and commits to that kind of secondary effort nightly, his minutes will remain highly detrimental to the second unit.
Whiplash-inducing volatility defined Buddy Hield's middle stretch of the season, as he swung violently between lethal perimeter assassin and absolute deadweight. When his jumper was falling, he could single-handedly torch a defense. He delivered an absolute flamethrower performance on 01/20 vs TOR, punishing every coverage with a flawless 6-for-6 barrage from deep to yield 25 points and a massive +20.5 impact score. Yet, scoring alone rarely guaranteed a positive night. During his outing on 01/02 vs OKC, he tallied a respectable 11 points but posted a troubling -3.6 impact score because severe defensive lapses and poor off-ball positioning actively hurt the lineup. Conversely, he occasionally salvaged his floor value when the shots stopped falling by doing the dirty work. On 12/29 vs BKN, Hield managed just 6 points but generated a stellar +9.4 impact by suddenly providing exceptional off-ball defensive awareness and high-energy closeouts. He remains the ultimate wild card, a specialist whose nightly worth relies entirely on whether he decides to execute the little things when his jumper inevitably cools off.
IMPACT TIMELINE
Game-by-game performance vs average. Green = above average, red = below.
Boom-or-bust player. Hield's impact swings wildly relative to his average — some nights dominant, others invisible. Scoring varies by ~7 points per game.
Middle-of-the-road efficiency — shoots 45%+ from the field in 50% of games. Not automatic, but not a problem either.
Good defender on his best nights, but it comes and goes. Some games Hield locks in defensively, others he gets picked apart.
Tends to go on runs. Longest hot streak: 4 games. Longest cold streak: 8 games.
MATCHUP HISTORY
Based on 74 games with tracking data. Shows who guarded this player on offense and who he guarded on defense, with their shooting stats in those matchups.
ON OFFENSE: WHO GUARDED HIM
His shooting stats against each primary defender this season
ON DEFENSE: WHO HE GUARDED
How opponents shot when he was the primary defender. Lower FG% = better defense.
SEASON STATS
GAME LOG
52 games played
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