Indiana Pacers vs. Washington Wizards Player Prop: Will Buddy Hield Ball Out?
Indiana Pacers vs. Washington Wizards Player Prop: Will Buddy Hield Spread the Wealth Tonight?
The Indiana Pacers are hosting the Washington Wizards tonight. Indiana is now a week removed from their franchise-altering trade deadline deal to acquire Buddy Hield and Tyrese Haliburton in exchange for Domantas Sabonis and a couple of other pieces. And, the deal is already showing quite a bit of promise for Indy.
Of course, Haliburton is an excellent young player and was the centerpiece of the trade. However, Hield has shown some legitimate playmaking chops alongside Haliburton since coming to Indiana.
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Buddy Hield Over 2.5 Assists @ +105 (Bet $100 to win $105)
*Odds Available at DraftKings at Time of Publishing*
Buddy Hield has been enjoying the highest usage of his NBA career lately. In three games with the Pacers, he's averaging 21.7 points per game on 18.7 shot attempts in addition to 4.3 assists on 9.0 potential assists per night. Simply put, he has the ball in his hands a ton. And, since we only need three assists from him, that's awesome for us.
Hield ranks second on the Pacers in passes made and received, potential assists, and assists since he's arrived. He only trails Haliburton in each of these categories and is obviously a large part of what the Pacers are trying to build. Head Coach Rick Carlisle isn't afraid to run Buddy into the ground, either. The 29-year-old wing is playing a massive 38.9 minutes per game on his new team, which bodes quite well for him to see plenty of assist opportunities tonight.
With his new role and heavy minutes, Hield should fall somewhere in the range of seven or eight assist opportunities tonight (he had nine last night). We're just asking for the Oklahoma product's teammates to convert three of those into buckets.
The matchup with Washington shouldn't scare anyone off of Buddy Love tonight. The Wizards rank as the league's 9th-worst defense this season. And, they haven't gotten any better recently, as they're allowing the 8th-most points per 100 possessions over the last 10 games. Someone will have to step up for Indy other than Tyrese Haliburton tonight, and Buddy Hield is your best bet to do just that.