Buddy Hield appears ready to leave the Philadelphia 76ers for the Golden State Warriors as the teams are currently in deep talks on a sign-and-trade deal for the sharpshooter.
There are a few different ways this deal could go. The likely option is for the Sixers to take back a second-round pick or two from Golden State and just keep it pushing. The Warriors could also loop in the Dallas Mavericks and the Minnesota Timberwolves who Golden State has separate sign-and-trade deals and make it a bigger deal than it currently is.
The second option benefits Philadelphia much better.
The Athletic’s Jon Hollinger broke it down like this:
If the Golden State Warriors send Gui Santos to Philadelphia and sign second-round pick Quinten Post to a rookie minimum deal, that leaves them about $14 million under the tax apron for Buddy Hield. But the only way I can see to import him at that salary is to incorporate Hield and Kyle Anderson into the same sign-and-trade that sent Klay Thompson outbound, turning it into a five-team mega trade between Charlotte, Dallas, Minnesota, Golden State and Philadelphia.
The potential acquisition of Gui Santos in this Hield deal would greatly benefit the Sixers. Hollinger explained the reason why Philadelphia would want to do something like that in order to make future deals:
Why Santos? Philadelphia acquiring him into cap space would mean the Sixers could aggregate him into a trade immediately. That, perhaps, would allow them to combine his salary and Paul Reed’s to acquire a player not attainable with Reed’s salary alone, such as Cleveland’s Caris LeVert or Sacramento’s Kevin Huerter.
This doesn’t mean that Caris LeVert or Kevin Huerter would all of a sudden become available, but the Sixers would be able to make immediate deals with Santos on the payroll. There is still work to do, but it appears that the Sixers and Warriors are in the midst of working on this Hield deal to make it all work.
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