Former Sooner Buddy Hield joining Golden State Warriors

Former Oklahoma Sooners men’s basketball star Buddy Hield has found his new team for the 2024-2025 NBA season.

The OU legend will be joining the Golden State Warriors on a sign-and-trade deal with his former team, the Philadelphia 76ers. ESPN NBA analyst Adrian Wojnarowski took to social media on Thursday to announce the news.

Hield’s new contract in the Bay Area is a guaranteed two years and $21 million. He will get $18 million in first two years, a $3 million partial guarantee in the third year and player option on a non-guaranteed fourth year. The Sixers will receive a 2031 second round pick.

“Buddy Love” led the Sooners all the way to the Final Four in 2016, headlining Lon Kruger’s best team in Norman. In that storied senior season, Hield averaged 25 points per game on better than 50% shooting. His run in the NCAA Tournament is the lasting image of OU hoops in the 2010s.

Hield was a consensus All-American in 2016, winning the Wooden Award and the Naismith Award. He was also the Big 12 Player of the Year. He led the Sooners to their fifth and most recent trip to the Final Four. Oklahoma also made the Final Four in 1939, 1947, 1988 and 2002.

Hield is one of the faces of Oklahoma basketball in the modern era, along with recently retired Blake Griffin (2007-2009) and Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young (2017-2018). He’ll join Golden State as a three-point shooting replacement for Klay Thompson, whom the Warriors lost in free agency earlier this offseason.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @AaronGelvin.