“Without Klay Thompson, You Need Shooting”: Stephen Curry Speaks Out on Buddy Hield’s 22-Point Debut for Warriors

Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors started their 2024-25 campaign triumphantly. Taking down the Blazers 139-104 is a great way to start the season and it left the fans content after 190 days of no Dubs basketball. However, what excited the fans even more was the 22-point showing Buddy Hield had, coming off the bench.

In his regular-season debut for the Warriors, Hield was given just 14:44 minutes of playing time, which was more than enough for him. He scored 22 points, shooting 5 of 7 from the deep, and 8 of 12 from the field. At the same time, he also registered 5 rebounds to his name.

After the game, Stephen Curry was asked about “the Buddy Hield experience.”

“The guy just loves to play basketball, he loves the hoop, he loves to be in the gym. He’s got a great personality. He is of this world, he loves this game, again, he’s just happy that he’s able to play a system that he’s comfortable in.”

Curry and the Warriors thrive on players who can fit into their system and obviously, who can shoot from the deep. Hield fits both those categories perfectly.

Curry further spoke about how Hield had played against the Dubs all his career and found the constant 3s demoralizing.

“I know he’s played against us for years and I kind of feel it, he was talking about on the bench how demoralizing it is at times where you get on a run and you get a stop, transition, everybody’s fine for court, defense makes a mistake, you get a three.”

Curry joked how Hield now gets to do the same to their opponents, “Go down and do it again, being on the other side of that is demoralizing for a defense and for a team, and now he gets to add to that.”

Anthony Slater then commented how in some ways Hield is a replacement for Klay Thompson. Steph replied,

“without Klay, you need shooting. We need to shoot anyway. And me and him have been one and two, and Klay right there shooting threes for the last eight years. So we know what a skill set is, we know what he’s capable of doing. He’s been a very seamless transition so far.”

To get compliments of this level from Stephen Curry would be huge for Buddy Hield. Playing alongside Steph was one of the things Hield was most excited about when he signed with the Warriors.

Buddy Hield on teaming up with Stephen Curry

Hield signed a 2-year, $21 Million guaranteed deal with the Warriors on June 4th, 2024. Hield was busy with the Bahamian National Basketball Team but did manage to comment about playing with Steph.

“I wanna go there and win and try to get them back on top… Being with Steph I’ll be able to watch & learn from him.”

One can judge the level of excitement Hield had to come and play with the Warriors, especially Stephen Curry, right there. During the training camp, there was a hilarious moment where Hield was talking to the reporters, but all he wanted to do was watch Curry work out.

Having two sharpshooters who have the most 3-point field goals made in the last five years is a great sign for the Warriors. They would hope Hield continues to flourish in the 6th man role Kerr has in mind for him, and keep helping the Dubs rack up wins.