https://wsau.com/2025/01/24/re...trade-with-portland/

Thoughts??

Grant is an interesting guy but he’s not close to being the same well rounded player as Middleton.  

For starters, he’s not a good rebounder nor is he a good passer/playmaker.  In a way, he’s a larger version of Gary Trent Jr.  

His defense (lately) hasn’t been very good but earlier in his career he was a capable defender including a solid perimeter defender.  

At this point, he’s a decent catch and shoot guy and I think if pushed could be an upgrade over Middleton defensively but even a limited Middleton is just a much more versatile player on both ends of the court.  The problem is Middleton’s maybe 60-70% of the player he was 3 years ago.  His athleticism has really fallen off and this current version of Middleton is just not good enough.

That being said, also adding Robert Williams would be intriguing.  While he’s injured a lot, he is or was an elite defensive player and would help Milwaukee there especially against more athletic front court players.  

If given the choice of Beal or LaVine I would probably take Grant and Williams if Middleton and Portis and Pat C are involved.  

Nurkic seems to be in Bud's doghouse with the Suns. He has not played in the last 9 games.  Any chance for anything there? 

@ammo posted:

Nurkic seems to be in Bud's doghouse with the Suns. He has not played in the last 9 games.  Any chance for anything there?

No thanks. Just keep Portis. Nurkic can't guard anyone on the perimeter and offers no rim protection. His career 3 point shooting percentage is about the same as Giannis'.

There's a reason he's not playing for Bud. For better or worse, if you can't play defense you don't play big minutes for Buc. Portis was benched for almost the entire Nets series in 2021, and he's Bill Russell on defense compared to Nurkic.

Here's how I see the likelihood of guys getting moved by the trade deadline.

Assume that Giannis (unless the Spurs offer Wembanyama even up) and Dame (Steph Curry or SGA even up) are untouchable. Assume Green and Trent are untouchable on their minimum salaries for their production. Assume no one really cares about T. Prince, Jackson Jr., or any of bench riffraff making minimum salaries.

Gone, no its, ands, or buts (100%)

Beauchamp. They didn't pick up his option for next year. He's making 2.7 million and the Bucks can get a guy to sit the bench just like him for 1.1 million. It saves money directly on the contract and on the luxury tax payments. They'll give him away for nothing if they can (or attach something like a 2nd round pick swap to get him out)

Almost certainly gone (>95% chance)

Connaughton. He's not a complete stiff, but he's not worth 10 million a year this year and next. It's a terrible contract and it puts them over the second apron. They are much better off without that contract for many reasons. If he's making 3-4 million you would keep him, because he's a great teammate and playing in short stints he can at least be a stopgap. A contender can't play him 20 minutes a game anymore though and getting out of the second apron would be huge. Getting under the second apron also allows you to make a lot more trades (since you can then aggregate outgoing salaries to get one player in return).

Possibly gone (50/50)

Portis. He can get 15-20 points a night. He's not a good defender by any means, but he is a very good defensive rebounder. He knows how to play with Giannis and his contract is a pretty good one for his production (13 million). He can opt out after this year and probably will (someone will give him 15 million a year for 2-3 years) so you risk losing him for nothing if you don't move him now. But, he's a guy that will get you points in a playoff game and he's part of the soul of the team. This a tough call.

Will at least take calls (25%)

Lopez. He's on an expiring contract. Embiid is probably not going to be a playoff matchup. At least the Sixers are going to be a 7/8 seed and you won't face them until the NBA Finals (extremely unlikely). Lopez gets played off the court against the Celtics, Pacers, and Knicks (and maybe even the Cavs). He's a great regular season player and fits well with Giannis. He spaces the floor and is an elite rim protector. If you don't think you can win a title, you move him 100 times out of 100. If you think you can win a title, you keep him.

I guess you have to think about it (20%)

Middleton. They aren't getting anybody else better who I'd want on the floor at the end of a playoff game to take a shot. Middleton is on the Curry/Durant level as a playoff clutch shooter. The problem is that he makes way too much money for his current production (32 million), but not enough money to trade for anyone that's a flawed max type player that could be an expensive third option for the Bucks (Beal, Butler, Lavine). To get Lavine, you'd have to trade Middleton and Portis (after you dump Connaughton to get under the second apron). To get Beal or Butler, you'd probably have to trade Middleton and Lopez (after dumping Connaughton). The realistic options to get in a trade even up for Middleton (if you throw in the 2031 first round pick or someone like Tyler Smith) are players like Jerami Grant, Jordan Poole, Anfernee Simons, and Nic Claxton. I don't think that moves the needle for the Bucks ceiling.

Miami just suspended Jimmy Butler indefinitely. I would guess that the Butler situation has to be resolved before a lot of other trades can happen. Phoenix is definitely to do something, but they need to see if they can get Butler first before moving onto secondary targets.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story...finitely-sources-say

It looks like Miami may have additional problems to deal with.

https://www.wsj.com/sports/bas...63a7170b?mod=bluesky

Sports Illustrated posted an article in last 24 hours on the Nets and their strong desire to try to lure or trade for Giannis.  

I doubt that it will happen, but Brooklyn has fifteen 1st rounders over the next 7 years and a few good young players like Cam Johnson.  

@Tschmack posted:

Sports Illustrated posted an article in last 24 hours on the Nets and their strong desire to try to lure or trade for Giannis.  

I doubt that it will happen, but Brooklyn has fifteen 1st rounders over the next 7 years and a few good young players like Cam Johnson.  

I don't think he's going to the Nets. This seems like one of those clickbait articles with a similarity to saying that when I was in high school in the mid-80s that I would like to lure Christie Brinkley into dating me.

The Bucks would cease to be relevant the second they traded him for one. They would only trade him for something like the Wolves gave up for Gobert as the starting point, and the big thing is that for those picks to be worth anything they need to be from teams that are going to suck. Trading Giannis (or any top 10 player) for 10 draft picks that end up being outside the lottery isn't worth. If they have Giannis, the Nets picks are worth crap. The only unprotected picks the Nets have from other teams the next 5 years are the Knicks and it's unlikely they are going to be a high lottery team any time soon.

https://fanspo.com/nba/teams/nets/3/draft-picks

You also need to get at least 1, it not 2, borderline all-stars back. Cam Johnson is a nice player, but watching Cam Johnson and Nic Claxton and 5 picks that allow you to draft players like DDV or Beauchamp is not exactly going to excite the deer district. Welcome back to a ceiling of #6 seeds and first round exits even when everyone is healthy.

As I've said before, the only team that makes any sense for the Bucks to trade Giannis to (and they shouldn't trade him period) is OKC. Even then, you probably aren't picking in the top 5. But at least you could see a package of 6-7 draft picks along with something like Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams.

https://www.si.com/nba/draft/d...--future-draft-picks

The only player I would consider trading Giannis for at this point is Victor Wembenyama. That's it.

Wemby would fit right in, he is already whining about the refs.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story...k-calls-feels-unfair

@MichiganPacker2 posted:

The only player I would consider trading Giannis for at this point is Victor Wembenyama. That's it.

Plus some picks 😁

I will put it here, NBA shocker league altering trade

Lakers trade Anthony Davis for Luka Dončić

httphttpshttps://sports.yahoo.com/lakers-trade-anthony-davis-for-luka-doncic-in-one-of-the-most-shocking-deals-in-nba-history-

I have absolutely no idea what Dallas is doing with that trade.   If work ethic and health of Doncic was a key factor how is that much different than Anthony Davis?  

Umm.....wut?!

The two GMs are buddies here as well.  I would say Mark Cuban picked a good time to opt out.  AD with Kyrie Irving is hilarious and they probably got 50 cents on the dollar on this trade (Dallas).  

This is one of the most stunning trades in NBA history. Luka did not ask out and did not know about it. Lebron James and Anthony Davis knew nothing. Apparently, no other GMs knew either.

Even if Luka was banging someone's wife and daughter in Dallas and they wanted to trade him for personal reasons, they could have auctioned him off to the highest bidder. Trade him to OKC. I can't imagine OKC hanging up if you called to discuss this. How about Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, and about 8 first round picks in the next 5 years ?

One of the most substantiated rumors (from Mark Stein who knows Dallas staff well) is that they didn't like Luka's commitment to conditioning and that he was always getting hurt. That he has never played more than 72 games in year. So they traded him for Anthony "Street Clothes" Davis? A guy who has played in more than 62 games once since 2018 (the year before Luka was even in the league)?

If the Mavs would have called the Bucks and offered Luka for Giannis, they would have had to think about it. He's 25 years old and has already made 5 All-NBA first teams. He just took your team to the NBA Finals last year.

WTAF?

I forgot, the Mavs did get the Lakers 2029 first round pick. Luka will be 29 years old and the Lakers never have problems adding stars through free agency.

Why is it always the fricking Lakers? Did Adam Silver bribe the Mavs to ship him out? Imaging being a Mavs fan today.

On the surface, this sure seems orchestrated to make the Lakers relevant again.  When you consider Mikal Bridges and Rudy Gobert cost 4-5 picks apiece this deal makes no sense from a value standpoint.  Even at his peak, Anthony Davis straight up for Luka isn’t a good deal.  Yes the Lakers threw in their 2029 1st rounder, but Doncic is 25 and LA has never had an issue luring players so that pick means nothing.  

Davis is 31 years old.  For all the crap Khris Middleton gets for staying healthy AD isn’t much further behind.  

Something stinks with this deal.  If Luka was made available via trade there’s probably 20 teams that would make an offer and the net return would easily be several good players and multiple 1st rounders or swaps or unprotected picks.  

The fact that even LeBron James and Clutch Sports were in the dark speaks volumes.   They run that town and pull all the strings.

So the next logical shoe to drop is King James to the Warriors so they can make one last hurrah.

For all of the talk about ratings being down it seems like Adam Silver is reaching into the David Stern bag of tricks and helping steer or facilitate moves to get the legacy and big market teams back on track.  Even better if star players end up landing in places like Chicago and LAL and New York and Philly.  or Golden State or Boston or maybe Houston.  

You would think a good Boston team would attract a lot more interest but all they do is shoot 3s and there isn’t one charismatic player or coach to be found on that squad.  

It’s great for the local fans but it’s bad for the league to have guys like SGA in OKC and Joker in Denver and Giannis in Milwaukee and Wemby in SA.   The Philly experiment with Harden and now PG13 has failed and efforts to build up the Clippers over the last 10 years didn’t work either.  New York is coming around but they still need a true star player- someone like Giannis.

Short term, get Golden State back on track with LeBron and then start to pave the way for those other star players mentioned to bail to head to the bigger market clubs.  

You think anyone really cares about the Thunder or Cavs?

@Tschmack posted:

New York is coming around but they still need a true star player- someone like Giannis.

Short term, get Golden State back on track with LeBron and then start to pave the way for those other star players mentioned to bail to head to the bigger market clubs. 

What next? Giannis to NY, Boston or Golden St?

@Tschmack posted:

You think anyone really cares about the Thunder or Cavs?

Or Milwaukee.

So glad we got 1 chip. That was an amazing year & playoff run. So fun to watch. I'll always cherish that because I know it will probably never happen in my lifetime again

Give the guy kudos for not letting anything leak. Do you think Adam Silver was behind this to put 25 year old Luca in LA? I'm guessing yes.

I'm expecting Giannis to the Knicks any minute now.

Interesting take on the trade

https://awfulannouncing.com/nb...ireable-offense.html

Doncic has a year and a half left on his deal and yes he would have been eligible for the supermax this summer but trading him to the Lakers now (for far less than market value) without other suitors getting involved looks like an inside job.  

This would be like Green Bay trading Jordan Love to the Vikings for a 3rd and 5th round pick.  

This is the most shocking, dumbest transaction I've ever seen in sports in my lifetime. Luka is a top 3 player at age 25. He just took a team to the NBA finals. There were zero indications Luka was unhappy. Unless it comes out that Luka's knees were made of the same stuff as Brandon Roy's, there is no defending this trade. And even so, they still should have gotten more than what they did.

It would make more sense if it came out that the Mavs GM accepted a bribe to facilitate this trade, creating the biggest scandal in NBA history. That would actually make more sense than what actually just happened.

There are reports that the Mavs offered Luka to one other team with a star to trade in return other than Lakers. The Mavs were turned down.

The Mavs GM made a strong statement that one of the reasons they wanted AD is that defense wins championships. The only teams that make sense given all that are either the Spurs or the Bucks.

https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2...ery-team-per-reports

https://wisportsheroics.com/bu...cic-trade-mavs-fans/

That's like the Bengals saying defense wins championships so they ship off Joe Burrow for an aging pro bowl pass rusher and a 3rd round pick.

Has Mark Cuban responded yet? As minority owner, I doubt he was notified of the trade.

There have been plenty of dumb moves in sports in my lifetime.   Including some teams in this state.

The Bucks trading Ray Allen in his prime comes to mind.   The Brewers letting Paul Molitor walk over chump change is another.  Both guys got their last laugh elsewhere winning titles.  

Still, this is puzzling on so many levels.  It’s rare that a team trades a superstar in their prime - from a team that was in the Finals last year.  On top of that, his contract wasn’t a problem and he went to the Lakers for peanuts.  

Unless the Mavericks were privy to some underlying medical issue that threatened his career this trade makes zero sense for Dallas.  If I were a Mavericks fan I’d be pissed.  

DeAaron Fox just went down

DeAaron Fox to the Spurs, Zach LaVine to the Kings.

Still waiting to hear the other pieces of the 4-team trade.

@CUPackFan posted:

That's like the Bengals saying defense wins championships so they ship off Joe Burrow for an aging pro bowl pass rusher and a 3rd round pick.

Has Mark Cuban responded yet? As minority owner, I doubt he was notified of the trade.

Mark Cuban has been very active on Blue Sky discussing the impacts of the new tariffs, but has not commented on anything to do with the Mavs recently.

@MichiganPacker2 posted:

DeAaron Fox just went down

DeAaron Fox to the Spurs, Zach LaVine to the Kings.

Still waiting to hear the other pieces of the 4-team trade.

Middleton, Lopez, Beauchamp, and Connaughton are all active for the Bucks tonight, so none of them are in this trade.

Portis is out, but he's been out for personal reasons for over week, so it doesn't necessarily mean anything.

More details of the Fox trade from the Athletic.

De’Aaron Fox is headed to the San Antonio Spurs in a multi-team deal that’s sending Chicago’s Zach LaVine to the Sacramento Kings, a team source told The Athletic.

As part of the deal, Kevin Huerter, Zach Collins and Tre Jones will head to the Chicago Bulls, and Jordan McLaughlin will go to the Spurs. The Kings are also acquiring three first-round picks in the deal. ESPN first reported the trade.

The move pairs Fox up with Victor Wembanyama. The Kings decided to field trade offers for the 27-year-old, as The Athletic reported last week, over concerns about his long-term future in Sacramento.

Mavs allegedly tried to get Giannis for Doncic.

@Boris posted:

I don't want Kuzma for Middleton. I don't think that makes a difference in the big picture.

I think you really have to think about moving Lopez. He's on an expiring contract and he gets played off the floor against the upper level playoff teams.

What kind of "draft capital" could the Bucks possibly have? Can't be much.

2035 1st round?

I've long thought it was very STUPID for the Bucks to keep trading way future 1st round picks. Makes no sense to me. I know they are riding on Giannis' coattails, but c'mon try to have some semblance of a succession plan.

@DurangoDoug posted:

I've long thought it was very STUPID for the Bucks to keep trading way future 1st round picks. Makes no sense to me. I know they are riding on Giannis' coattails, but c'mon try to have some semblance of a succession plan.

They really weren't a viable title contender from the time they traded Kareem until Giannis developed.

The Kareem trade is often ranked as the most lopsided trade in NBA history, but the Bucks got very good players out of that trade and rebuilt one of the best rosters in the NBA within 5 years. They got 4 immediate starters in Bridgeman, Brian Winters, Meyers, and Elmore Smith. They eventually flipped E. Smith for two first round picks and the mini-tank with the young players got them the draft picks that became Kent Benson, Quinn Bucker, and Sidney Moncrief. They eventually flipped Benson for Bob Lanier and traded a very good backup big man (Swen Nater) for the pick that became Marques Johnson. They ended up with 3 future Hall of Fame players (Marques should be in).

They did everything about as well as anyone ever has after trading a star player and never got to the Finals. They got the East Finals 3 times, but never even got a single series to 6 games.

I'm OK with trading picks to try to win with Giannis while he's in his prime. Even when teams do rebuilds well they will still struggle to win. The only reason OKC has recovered from Durant/Harden/Westbrook and then George/Paul is because SGA turned into a superstar. If SGA didn't explode, their rebuild wouldn't have amounted to anything either. And they still haven't been to a Finals since they before the traded away or lost 3 of the top 50 players of all time.

There are some rumblings of Kevin Durant ending up in Milwaukee. I would guess the chances are close to zero, but the fact it is out there is interesting.

This works if you sweeten the deal for someone like the Pistons to take Connaughton's contract (maybe throw in Ajax or one of the young guys).