A report on Wednesday morning indicated that the Pacers could flip veteran wing Buddy Hield to a new team today or tomorrow after acquiring him from Sacramento on Tuesday. However, Zach Lowe of ESPN (Twitter link) isn’t expecting that to happen, reporting that Indiana doesn’t plan to move Hield before Thursday’s deadline, despite some interest from other teams.
Lowe cautions that things could change in the next 24+ hours, but as I noted when we relayed the initial Hield rumor, his $23MM cap hit and the $40MM he’s owed for the two seasons after this one will probably make it tricky for the club to get anything of real value for him, especially since he’s in the midst of a down year — his .368 3PT% is the worst mark of his career.
Here are a few more items from around the Central:
- The Bulls‘ injury woes continued on Tuesday, as rookie guard Ayo Dosunmu entered the NBA’s concussion protocol, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. Dosunmu has been ruled out for Wednesday’s game in Charlotte, but it’s unclear how much more time he might miss beyond that.
- Star forward DeMar DeRozan doesn’t believe the Bulls needs to make any trades at the deadline, suggesting that getting healthy is the top priority for the club. “We’re missing Lonzo Ball, one of the top point guards in this league,” DeRozan said, according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. “Alex Caruso, one of the best defenders in this league. Patrick Williams, one of the young stars in this league. We haven’t had those guys. And we have them; they’ll be back. We don’t need to worry or stress about having nobody else.
- Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said on Tuesday that the team continues to get positive news about Brook Lopez‘s recovery from back surgery and remains hopeful that the veteran center will be back before the end of the regular season, says Jamal Collier of ESPN (Twitter link).
- New Cavaliers guard Caris LeVert is excited to be back in the thick of a playoff race after spending the first half of the season with a lottery-bound Indiana squad, writes Tom Withers of The Associated Press. “Here, we’re playing for a championship,” LeVert said.