The Loop
Somehow everyone thought Buddy Hield was younger than he actually is
Ezra Shaw
Buddy Hield turned 25 this week. Except that he's actually 26.
Hield, who is enjoying a breakout campaign with the Sacramento Kings in his third NBA season, told the Kings' broadcast team before Monday night's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves that he was born in 1992. Somewhat interesting, considering almost every media outlet—including ESPN, Yahoo, CBS Sports, and the NBA's official website—had Hield born in 1993.
So, uh, what the hell, right?
According to Hield, blame the Internet. Speaking with NBC Sports:
“That’s their fault, not my fault,” Hield said when asked why everywhere, including the NBA’s website, has him listed as 25. “The first time I saw it on Wikipedia, my mom said, ‘Why do they have your age wrong?’ I said, ‘I have no idea.’ ”
Born in Freeport, the main city on the island of Grand Bahama, Hield came to the U.S. with identification and, according to the Kings star, all of it has the correct date.
“I came over with a passport,” Hield said. “My passport has 1992 on it. My driver's license has 1992 on it. I just think people got their information from Wikipedia or wherever, and they just went with it. They just got it wrong.”
Man, two Wikipedia daggers in one interview. Which we don't doubt; knew a college professor who, so sick of her students using Wikipedia as the sole source for information, personally inserted a wrong fact about the Battle of Tippecanoe onto the site's entry page, just to see how many kids were duped. Which further augments our theory that college professors are the worst.
Anyway, the real joke could be on Hield, who might have cost himself money in his next negotiation. He just lost a theoretical season at the back-end of his career, after all. On the bright side, he's that much closer to collecting social security, so he's got that going for him.