Buddy Hield

Chavano Rainer "Buddy" Hield (born December 17, 1992) is a Bahamian professional basketball player for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners and was named the Big 12 Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016. In 2016, he received four major national player of the year awards—the John R. Wooden Award, the Naismith Award, Sporting News Player of the Year, and the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Hield was selected with the sixth overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft by the New Orleans Pelicans and was traded to the Sacramento Kings for DeMarcus Cousins in 2017. He was dealt to the Indiana Pacers in a package for Domantas Sabonis in 2022. Early life Hield grew up in Eight Mile Rock, a coastal region west of Freeport, in the West Grand Bahama district in the Bahamas. He was fifth of seven children of his mother Jackie Braynen. Hield received his nickname from his mother after Bud Bundy of the sitcom Married... with Children. Hield was first featured in high school by The All Bahamian Brand, a basketball magazine from the Bahamas. Hield, as a young eighth-grader, was rated by the All Bahamian Brand as the best eighth-grader in the Bahamas and one to watch. Hield showed his early ability to lead his team from a young age by taking his Jack Hayward High School basketball team to the championship of the Providence Holiday Tournament on a buzzer-beater and also leading his team to win the Grand Bahamas High School Championships. For his exploits, Hield was named an All Bahamian Brand All Bahamian Selection.