Bucks trade deadline - Some potential deals

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