SAN FRANCISCO – Committing the ultimate professional mistake as part of the Bahamas men’s national basketball team made Buddy Hield quickly realize what kind of head coach longtime Warriors assistant Chris DeMarco would be.
DeMarco can be described in part as a player’s coach. The 40-year-old knows how to keep it light and have fun. He also knows what earns respect, and which cardinal rules cannot be broken, regardless of status.
“I was late for film one day on the national team,” Hield remembers, telling NBC Sports Bay Area. “He locked me out of film. They were like, ‘Yo, Chris says you’re not coming in.’ That was big time. That showed his leadership of we’re going to have fun and play around and all those things, but if you can’t be on time and be respectful, I’m not going to give you a trump card and let you in.”
DeMarco became the Bahamas’ head coach in 2019. He already had been with the Warriors since 2012 and immediately began building a completely new foundation for Bahamas basketball seven years later, with Hield as his go-to guy.
How DeMarco responded to Hield being late to film was exactly what he needed, and what the rest of his teammates needed to see.
“He wanted me to be disciplined,” Hield continued. “He was like, ‘You didn’t watch film? You should feel bad as a leader not being on time.’ You respect that from a coach. That goes a long way as a player, and it made sense.”
The connection they built played a big role in Hield’s comfort coming to the Warriors in the summer of 2024. But their time together with the Warriors isn’t going to last much longer.
DeMarco on Friday agreed to become the new head coach of the WNBA’s New York Liberty, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported, citing sources.
Who DeMarco is leading the Bahamas is who Hield expects to see lead the Liberty.
And it’s why the combination of his head coaching experience of a national team and all his years with the Warriors, a holdover from the Mark Jackson era who has played a long and important list of roles on the staff, has Hield so confident DeMarco is the right person for his next job.
“Well, for example, the way he was able to take the Bahamas team from nothing to one game from the Olympics,” Hield says. “Like, that’s big time. I don’t think it’s easy to take control of a country like that. Taking charge and turning a program around.
“He changed the way we travel. He changed the way we do things – watch film, everything. I know that when he gets there, he’s going to take his Warriors habits over there.”
Everything. That’s what Hield believes DeMarco means to Bahamas basketball. He feels it wholeheartedly.
“He’s put us on the map. No question about it,” Hield says. “All of us, our game has risen to where everybody recognizes the Bahamas. I think we have a window where we can make the World Cup, and then potentially I think we’re going to make the Olympics in 2028.”
The Bahamas men’s national basketball team never has reached the Olympics. DeMarco has Hield as a believer, though. The two were just so close. They fell one game short of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics when Hield averaged 19.8 points in the qualifying tournament in Spain.
When DeMarco first took over as Bahamas head coach, Hield was most excited about the culture change he’d bring to the national team. Hield had played multiple NBA seasons by then but had yet to be on a playoff team, and DeMarco had won multiple championships with the Warriors. There already was a level of respect that only grew over time.
“You just know when you’re around winners and people with a winning mentality,” Hield says. “You just know how to believe in them. When he’s around that whole environment, you just know that something good comes out of that from everything that he’s learned. I was just happy to learn from him. I was ecstatic to learn from him.
“I started to play a pro-style offense in FIBA, which was much needed, and to change the trajectory of Bahamas basketball.”
Patience paid off for DeMarco. In being a head coach at the highest level, and in finally being at the front of the bench this season. DeMarco was the Warriors’ longest-tenured coach at 14 years, and this also was in his first year at the front of the bench.
The move was noticeable to multiple parties.
“Yeah, he’s been really communicating on defense. He’s a communicator, man,” Hield said. “He understands the game. He puts everything into perspective for you as a player. He’s been around this program since 2012. He’s seen the good, and he’s seen the bad and now he’s made his mark.
“It’s crazy, good things happen when you get to the front of the bench. Everybody starts respecting you.”
Hield joked “I might not get any more playing time!” in response to what he’ll miss the most once DeMarco does eventually depart the Warriors’ bench for the Liberty later this season. But DeMarco did bring comfort.
The Warriors were about to be Hield’s fifth team going into his ninth season when he was part of a historic six-team deal that also sent Klay Thompson to the Dallas Mavericks in a sign-and-trade. Hield then signed a multi-year contract with the Warriors that guaranteed him $18 million in the first two years, had $3 million guaranteed for the third year and a player option for the fourth year on a non-guaranteed contract.
A sense of safety, and a history of working together still goes a long way.
“His role coming here was so big,” Hield says. “Like every player, you want to feel safe. He made me feel safe that I could make that decision of coming here. I just liked the idea of him being here around a winning team, and the security of feeling safe. That was a big thing.
“With my personality, it’s different. I can adapt and learn from everybody. But the security helps. I knew that if something goes wrong I can go to him and see what’s going on and that he’d vouch for me a little bit.”
The day-to-day won’t be the same, but Hield still can always go to DeMarco, even when he fully leaves for the Liberty, and they always will be in each other’s corner.
“He’ll still be my guy forever,” Hield says. “Really happy for him and his family. It’ll be dope.”
The Liberty found the right person in DeMarco. Hield knows it. He has witnessed it, he’s going to enjoy their remaining time with the Warriors, and he’s ready to make a push together again for another Olympics bid by the Bahamas.
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