The only thing that can keep Buddy Hield from playing is the flu and a trip to the ER
"I just love playing. The game brings so much joy to me and I put so much work in so I love to be out there.”
Buddy Hield was back home again.
Home because the gym is his sanctuary and teammates are his people.
“Can’t take it for granted how much being around the guys means and being able to hear the basketball bounce again, interacting, watching film and being able to smell the basketball again,” Hield said on Thursday after spending three days at home.
What was being away like for him? “Hell. Boring. I felt like I was in prison.”
Not by choice, either.
He got a bug, felt ill and ended up in the emergency room around 2 a.m. Monday morning at the urging of his significant other.
“My girl told me to go to the ER because I had a fever,” he said. “I called the team doctors, had the flu. I felt like I could’ve played, but they said they don’t want me getting the other guys infected with it and you know how this league goes, once one gets it, everybody gets it and it spreads.
“You don’t want to be selfish in that act and not wait so it was a smart decision to sit out. As much as I wanted to play all 82 games, it was the right thing to do. Protect my teammates so they could go out there and play.”
And so Hield obeyed the orders of Dr. Steven Samuels to remain away from the team for games on Monday and Wednesday even though it prevented him from playing in every game this season, something he’s done in four of his first six seasons.