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In the midst of Monday's 115-109 loss to the Charlotte Hornets, Buddy Hield was seen sitting on the bench and discreetly giving the finger to someone while scratching his nose. The Indiana Pacers guard then took things a step further and openly used the gesture, prompting the NBA to fine him $25,000.
Once the video emerged on social media, fans provided hilarious reactions. Unfortunately, for the Pacers, they lost despite Hield recording 20 points, four rebounds and one assist in 32 minutes.
The Indiana Pacers' season so far, will they make the playoffs?
The Pacers (32-40) sit in 11th place in the Eastern Conference. With the Chicago Bulls (34-37) 2.5 games ahead of them in 10th place, the Pacers' hopes of making the playoffs seem to be dwindling.
With 10 games left in the season, the team will have to pick up some big wins to make it into the Play-In tournament. According to Tankathon's strength of schedule calculator, the Pacers have the fifth-hardest remaining schedule in the league.
In addition, many of their remaining games come against teams in the same conference, making their run even more difficult.
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On Wednesday, the Pacers will play the Toronto Raptors (35-37), who are ninth. With the Raptors looking to pull themselves higher in the standings, the Pacers will be facing an uphill battle.
On Friday, the team then travels to Boston for a big game with the second-place Celtics (50-23), before they go right into a back-to-back with the eighth-place Atlanta Hawks (36-36) on Saturday. To close out the month, the Pacers will have tough matchups with the Dallas Mavericks (36-36), Milwaukee Bucks (51-20) and OKC Thunder (36-36).
Buddy Hield's salary with the Indiana Pacers
Of course, a $25,000 fine for Buddy Hield is no big deal given that he signed a four-year $94 million extension in 2019. Hield also signed a new contract with Nike back in 2022, marking an extension of his pre-existing deal.
In addition, he also has only recorded one technical foul this season. Even if he were to get caught giving an opponent the finger again and issued a technical, he likely wouldn't sweat the $25,000 fine.
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Per his current contract, Hield will make $20.5 million this season before entering the final year of his contract for the 2023-24 season. Once he hits free agency, it will be interesting to see where Hield lands. Although the Pacers have shown flashes of brilliance at times with Tyrese Haliburton, the Eastern Conference is increasingly competitive.
This season, Hield is averaging 17.1 points per game (while shooting a career-best 45.7%), 5.0 rebounds per game and 2.7 assists per game. On the defensive end, he is averaging a career-high 1.2 steals per game.
As the Pacers' season winds down, only time will tell whether the team is able to make a run at the play-in tournament.
