Golden State's latest move signals big changes for the new-look Warriors

For anxious Golden State Warriors fans, news that they finally made a significant move probably comes as a relief after they signed and traded for Buddy Hield. The four-year deal has only two years fully guaranteed for a bargain price of $9 million each, giving the Warriors another cheap rotation player after they also signed and traded for Kyle Anderson.

Hield has quietly been one of the league's best 3-point shooters over the last five seasons; in fact, he has actually hit more threes than Steph Curry during that span. While Curry missed significant time, Hield has missed just six games in eight years, making him both durable and reliable as a shooter.

His addition was no doubt to replace Warriors legend Klay Thompson, who joined the Dallas Mavericks. Thompson is still the better player but he will be paid twice as much as Hield, even though he isn't twice as good.

Can Buddy Hield help the Golden State Warriors next season?

Barring a bigger mover, the Warriors starting lineup would likely include Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Jonathan Kuminga, Andrew Wiggins, and Trayce Jackson-Davis, meaning that Hield, Anderson, and Draymond Green would come off the bench. That would make for an intriguing second unit and is probably the best possible role for Hield, with him being more of an offensive player, one who can do damage in spurts.

Acquiring him is just the latest sign that the Warriors are looking to remain competitive while getting cheaper. The new collective bargaining agreement was meant to force expensive teams such as Golden State to cut costs or face harsh penalties.

Thus far, the Warriors have complied, waiving Chris Paul, not upping their offer to Thompson, bringing in two vets on the relative cheap and likely relying on two second-year players to start and Kuminga to make a big offensive leap. Whether they will be better than last season's team that made the Play-in tournament but failed to make the playoffs is unclear, but Golden State does have more flexibility than they did before and could make more moves after adding Hield.