The Golden State Warriors have lost three straight games and their sixth man of the year candidate Buddy Hield has cooled off of late. So what can the Warriors do to stop this early storm and get their dynamic scorer back on track?

Warriors losing streak could be tied to Buddy Hield’s slump

ClutchPoints shared a startling side-by-side comparison of Hield’s productivity in his first eight games of the year and his drastic regression over his last 10, while highlighting how that change in efficiency has coincided with Golden State’s record:

“Warriors were 7-1 when Buddy Hield was on a heater,” ClutchPoints was published on X on Thursday. “They’re 5-5 since”

The tally showed the Oklahoma product averaging 21.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game on 51.7 percent shooting from the field and 50.7 percent from three-point range in his first eight contests. It then showed Hield dropping to 11.1 PPG, 2.9 RPG and 1.1 APG on a subpar 40.2 percent field goal clip and 37.1 percent outside connection rate.

Hield could be the other dynamic scorer the Warriors need

There’s no question the Bahamian star led the way for the Warriors while superstar point guard Stephen Curry worked through early injuries on reduced minutes. Still, the Dubs don’t have a second scorer posting 20 PPG on the campaign, including Andrew Wiggins. Hield is now way out of that territory with 15.6 PPG and his cold spell is hurting the team a lot.

The 31-year-old saw 26.1 minutes a night in the Warriors’ 7-1 stretch. He had only seen less than 27 minutes twice in that span, and in both cases he scored at least 22 points. Although during his 5-5 stretch, Hield has only seen 21.8 MPG and has taken less than 10 shots in five of those matchups.

More playing time could remedy Hield & Warriors problems

Thus, the record shows that Hield may only need to see about four more minutes per night to become more active offensively. Golden State’s crowded depth chart at guard may also contribute to his slump, though he outshines all of his teammates at the two.

Warrior head coach Steve Kerr has preferred to play Hield off the bench. It is expected that he will continue in that role going forward. Nonetheless, the Warriors (12-6) need their lethal sniper to find his groove again if they want to stay near the top of the Western Conference standings and make a finals appearance next spring.