NBA IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT

December 8, 2023

Buddy Hield

Indiana Pacers

Championship Practice Day

Q. Buddy, last night Tyrese was saying that he wants to win big for everyone in the locker room but particularly you, called you his brother. What do you remember about your experience being traded here with him, how you guys kind of got established here together, and what's it meant to get to this stage with someone like him that you've come up with a little bit here?

BUDDY HIELD: It's just special, man. It's fun. Every time you get traded with somebody, and I've been traded before from New Orleans to Sacramento my rookie year, I didn't really connect with the guys I got traded with because they were older than me.

Even though I'm older than Tyrese, we kind of fit together personality-wise. We're always friends on and off the basketball court, always hang out, do dinners, et cetera, et cetera. I felt at the time when he got traded he was in shock then because he was promised a lot from Sacramento. The way he was playing, his upside was a lot. I say, man, this business is tricky. You never know what can happen. I always tell him, yo, they say they won't trade you, but they will trade you.

He understands it was really more of a business than what it was, the business side of it. We connected on the plane and we said, man, this is an opportunity. You left Sacramento. You had a really special point guard ahead of you, De'Aaron Fox, and they've got to pick one. Sacramento is a place where they had to make a move, and they made the right move, as you can see.

I said, look Indiana is an opportunity to start your own brand, be yourself, be Tyrese and make a name for yourself. Be honest with you, I didn't see it coming out. I know he is always a good player, special. But as you watch him grow and grow, he's so smart.

He works his butt off each and every day. One of the hardest workers I've been around, and he's a special teammate. You can tell the way he passes the ball, shares the ball. On and off the court. Off the court, he's starting dinners, doing functions, Halloween parties, whatever. He's a team-oriented guy.

Special kid, man. You don't see a lot of guys like that around. He's a brother for sure.

Q. Players who rack up a lot of assists are dependent on their teammates to actually make the shots off their passes. Players who are so meticulous with the ball that they don't have turnovers, how dependent are they on their teammates to be able to get the pass that's here or save the ball that's going to go out of bounds or somehow be like first basemen scooping balls out of the dirt? Or are all his passes right where they need?

BUDDY HIELD: That's what makes him so special. He knows how to get the ball right on the money to guys. He does a great job finding his teammates and he's very deceptive. You just never know what he is going to do and you got to be ready.

He's one of those guys, he's going to get you a great shot. He's going to make the right play. You trust him to make the right play.

From the past three years he's been with Indiana, he's made the right play and the right pass. Yes, he is not going to be perfect every night, but in the scheme of the NBA season, he's special what he does.

Q. Buddy, covering the Lakers it feels like I hear your name every six months or so in some version of a trade rumor. Mentioning trades, it seemed like it was going to happen in 2021 in the summer to the Lakers and then they ended up going a different direction. What were your memories of that? Was there a time where you thought you were going to be a Laker?

BUDDY HIELD: Yeah, I was in the Bahamas. I was by the pool, having my camp. I think I was ready to go to another island. My agent called me, and he was like, yo, you want to be a Laker?

After that, I saw a tweet. When Woj tweeted out, it's kind of true. And after that, five minutes later I see they pivot.

But that's what happens when you're dealing with the business of this NBA. Things happen. I heard a lot of rumors the night before. God don't make no mistakes what he does. If it happened, it happened. But if it didn't, I would have been fine either way.

Q. Does this feel like a serendipitous thing that you're on this stage and that's the team that you guys have to beat?

BUDDY HIELD: No, it's not about that. Yeah, we're here. They won, we won. We are here to face each other in the championship game. We're going to face them two more times after this, home and away, too.

Great opportunity to go out there and play against them. The Lakers are the Lakers, as we all know. But we're going to come here, be humble and be ready for the game tomorrow.

Q. Ty was obviously mentioning wanting to get you in the Playoffs. What's this event been like considering that you haven't been a part of something like that yet? What was your expectation as to what it was going to be and what's it been like now that you're actually here and playing?

BUDDY HIELD: I never played in a playoff game before, but it feels like every game that was being played is playoff intensity, vibes, scouting, knowing guys' tendencies. Guys are more locked in, guys are more dialed in. The seriousness of the game, you can tell that every possession matters.

When you miss a box-out, coaches are on you. It's like, you missed a box-out, close-out, rebounding, all that stuff. There's a lot more intentional stuff that we are more focused and locked in on. Just happy to experience that type of level of play, high level of play, and hopefully we can just keep on carrying it over.

This tournament, yes, there's a lot on the line. But it's not about the money. It's us playing basketball, us playing together as a team. Coming here in Vegas, having the team camaraderie, loving each other and getting to know guys so much better and having fun out there. I feel like when we're all having fun, good things happen.

Q. You were one of the few guys that got to play in a Final Four. I'm just wondering what that compares to this like emotionally --

BUDDY HIELD: Don't talk about the Final Four. I had a bad loss in the Final Four. We can't talk about that. But it was special getting there, though. Don't talk about the Final Four.

Q. Then I was wondering what you thought about OU's hot start so far?

BUDDY HIELD: Oklahoma, you know, I just peeked at that. They're ranked No. 19. Their guard compared to Iverson? He is special. I've seen you guys post about him a little bit, too.

I'm always tapped into Oklahoma. Oklahoma is home. It's where I was able to make a name for myself. Hopefully they continue to do great. I'm always watching.

Q. How would you describe the Pacers' style of playing these days? I hear aggressive --

BUDDY HIELD: I think us, our pace, style of play is up tempo, fast, read-and-react offense, making plays, playing random where a team doesn't know when we're calling plays. Just going in there and playing, being unpredictable.

I feel like when you're unpredictable on the offensive end and teams don't know what you're doing, it's hard to scout. Just read and react and run out and play with pace.

Q. You just talked about how this team is continuity-wise. I watched you guys' first action. You made seven passes into a Myles lob on the backside. Talk about that in terms of that and the spacing and picking up 94 feet. A lot of teams don't do that. Just to even have the courage to pick up Dame Lillard 94 feet. The different things you guys bring to the table is a lot different.

BUDDY HIELD: Just making them uncomfortable. I feel like when you let good players play with space, they feel comfortable. You don't want them to get in a rhythm, especially like tomorrow, Bron. All good players want to play in space and we try to eliminate them not to play in space and make it hard.

No matter what they do, they're always going to be good players. They're special. They've been doing this thing all their lives.

But try to make it not easy on them and not too comfortable, because when every player is comfortable it could be a long night. We try to eliminate that.

On the offensive end, just read and react. Just the right play and being unselfish and trusting your teammate to make another play if something comes up again.

Q. You said a lot of times teams don't know what you guys are doing? How do you get to that point?

BUDDY HIELD: A lot of practice, but then trusting the next action enough, knowing what's a good shot, bad shot, a shot we want, and knowing your role on the team and what you're able to do and what you cannot do.

If it's not there, move it on. If not, get the ball to Ty and make him make something. If not, back screen, flair screen, chest screens, whatever. Read and react get to the next action and get to the best shot we can get to.