The regular season is spicing up. Head coaches trying to put pressure on their opponents just before games. When Klay Thompson committed to the Dallas Mavericks in early July, it became clear to many of the loyal ones too that the Golden State Warriors’ 10-year reign had officially ended, regardless of how they performed in the 2024-25 season and beyond. “They’re a play-in team at best. The window is shut… They had a great run. It’s over, and they had a great run… This window is shut closed,” the words of Charles Barkley on the Bay Area side. It left a lot of questions to be answered, as this was the first time Steve Kerr was left without Thompson.

In a major 4-team deal that eventually sent Klay to Dallas, Golden State pushed hard to bring Paul George and/or Lauri Markkanen to San Francisco. But it wasn’t meant to be. The arrival of Buddy Hield from the Sixers has been amazing. He’s already being compared to Klay and even being called the “Splash Buddies” alongside Stephen Curry. But such comparisons add to the pressure to perform.

With the Warriors on the road to play the Houston Rockets, Ime Udoka had said, “Klay Thompson all over again, that’s how they’re using him,” per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Meanwhile, Kerr has been very cautious about his statements, maybe to protect Hield.

“I think it’s the off-ball movement Buddy’s like Klay, you know, great great at catching and shooting off screens at pin downs. Also very similar demeanor. Very, very much just unconscious as a shooter doesn’t have a long memory. I’ve seen them twice now in games already and only 5 games turn bad shooting nights into good ones because he just kept going, kept shooting, kept running.”

“So, I really admire Buddy’s mentality. The pace that he plays with. He’s been fantastic to coach.” This is what Steve Kerr had to say about Buddy, as he avoided any further direct comparison with Thompson. With the departure of the Splash Bro, the Warriors’ HC had always said they have to fill the “void”. But as the season has tipped off, Kerr has stopped mentioning the need to fill that “void” repeatedly. The Warriors have been very impressive so far, even without their superstar Curry, having lost only one game till now.

Golden State Warriors’ scoring leader has risen like a Phoenix

After signing with the Warriors in the offseason, the 31-year-old, 6-foot-4 shooting guard from the Bahamas has found new life in his hoops career. He’s putting up an impressive 21.2 points per game, hitting 49% of his roughly 15 attempts per game. More remarkably, he’s been draining threes at an impressive 50% on just over 9 attempts per game! That shot volume is no joke and Klay averaged 9 attempts too in his final Bay Area year. Buddy now made it to #20 on the all-time NBA’s 3pt Field Goal list, moving past JJ Redick.

The stats don’t lie.

Even with Curry sidelined for his third game on Saturday because of a sprained left ankle, Golden State is sticking to Steve Kerr’s preseason plan to rely more heavily on the three-point shot than in previous years. Currently, the Warriors are taking 47.8% of shots from 3-point range—ranking 5th-highest in the league and marking a 5.3% increase in their attempts in Thompson’s final season.

Among the Golden State Warriors rotation, only Kevon Looney and Trayce Jackson-Davis aren’t given free rein to shoot from deep. But Buddy Hield has stepped up, not only filling the three-point void left by Thompson but firing with a daring frequency even the Splash Bro never displayed (on average) throughout his 11 healthy years with Steve Kerr and Co. Hield is currently hoisting an incredible 19.1 three-point attempts per 100 possessions—the highest rate of his career by a wide margin.

Given where the Bay Area side stands during Stephen Curry’s prolonged prime, Buddy Hield genuinely appears to be an amazing match both in terms of on-court dynamics and salary cap flexibility.