Khris Middleton Contract Discussion (and Poll)

[worthlessBucks]

Send a postcard

My dude, good to see you back a bit recently.

Bucks were on autopilot with the best player in the universe for a few years. Not much to Real GM about.

Now..now they have some problems.

[gbmb34]

I don't understand in the slightest those who want to let him walk. Of course, it's a lot of the same people who wanted to let him walk prior to his last contract and were proven impossibly wrong.

You pay the man to get his salary slot. If he becomes a rotten deal in 18 months, you deal him and 2 or 3 firsts for another second banana for Giannis. The new 2nd apron rule might impact their ability to keep the Graysons, Pats, Bobby's of the world.

Give Khris that sweet, sweet Haslem money. We're way over the cap who cares about saving the owners (especially the new one) money.

[James1980]

Khris at 4 years 160 mil would be the worst deal in the nba.

[Plossum]

I need more info from the doctors before making a call. If recent injuries are just a run of bad luck and not a chronic issue then I’ll feel a bit easier about Khris getting back to what he was with a proper off season behind him.

If he has degenerative knee issue then I’d let him walk. Not re-signing him would be grim, but worse would be having him on a bloated contract and constantly injured.

[aboveAverage]

You cannot let your second best player and best playoff performer walk if you have a superstar in his prime in a small market. Period. Resign Middleton at the max and then figure it out later. He will have plenty of value, even if he’s only a 16 game player. This postseason shows that Khris is exactly the kind of player you need when the game slows down in the playoffs.

[Couch Potato]

Find a sign & trade, at this point Khris is not worth 40M a season. Committing long term seems crazy, he's one injury away from being a dead contract for years which is even worse than losing him for nothing.

The Sign and Trade is a great plan.

But Khris has to like the destination. He’s from Texas, and many NBA players enjoy playing in Houston. If he targets that as acceptable, we have zero leverage, unless they want both Middleton and Harden. But in that case, Philly will play for the S&T with their guy.

My guess they want both. Seems like since the trade deadline. The wiretap been saying Rockets want Harden. Now a couple days ago they wanted Middleton.

[theFireBlanket]

Khris is from South Carolina. He played at Texas A&M but he is not from TX.

Doubt Midds wants to leave Giannis. The one place I considered prev. was LAL to live closer to his sister & play under Darvin.

[BucksFanSD]

Khris will get a lot. How much? More than Van Vleet and he will get a lot. It's still a hot market for sports contracts and franchise values. But this also means Khris will hold quite a bit of value. Which, in the end, is what matters here.

[ShootingtheJ]

Everyone is distracted be the Khris contract despite him being outstanding versus Miami.

Meanwhile, if Bud stays, Brook will get a 4 year $100 million contract despite him getting us murdered versus Miami.

We can't win in the playoffs without Khris on the floor or with Brook on the floor. But yeah, let's rehash Khris again.

[Unique]

Whatever the outcome, we should treat Khris as luxurious 6th man. Not a starter any more. Too slow, too clumsy, error-prone, poor ball handling skills, a giant hole in defence. Just a spot shooter, nothing more.

But get a coach first before deciding what to do with Khris.

[raferfenix]

Is there any reason to believe Middleton’s body will respond better with more time off without pushing to make it back to the court midseason?

Getting bounced so early will provide that at least…

If not he’ll increasingly become a mummy on defense.

As badly as we need Khris’ offense our defense having a sieve in it is a major difference from our championship run. That and overall we commit to being old and slow.

[JayMKE]

This is a conundrum for sure and its hard not feeling like this team is getting near the end of its rope personnel and asset wise. "We hate this contract and think its double his worth but we can't lose him for nothing" isn't exactly encouraging assessment or ringing endorsement. If the Khris we got this past season is the one we have going forward or regression from that then its time to move on, other team's GMs watch the same games we do & I can't see another team wanting to trade assets to bail us out. I don't think its very reasonable to assume that Middleton will bounce back athletically like Brook did this past season, maybe he gets better IDK that's an important variable. Like he's not good enough to be a part time player like Kawhi. Get some designer roid doctor from South Florida or something.

[paulpressey25]

Here are the realistic Middleton outcomes:

First tier:
Bucks re-sign him
Houston signs him outright
Bucks S&T him to Dallas

Second tier:
Middleton signs outright with Orlando
Middleton signs outright with OKC

Third tier:
Bucks work S&T with a capped out contender like LAC or LAL

Remember, Middleton choses where he wants to go. I don't see Memphis, NYK, etc. as being somewhere he'd go.

[RiotPunch]

I think Midds would be okay with Memphis. Ja/Bane/Midds/JJJ/Adams is an upper-tier playoff squad and I would imagine he has a good relationship with Jenkins (assuming he keeps his job).

[ackypoo]

lol @ people voting to let him walk.

we should have a 3rd option that says "i have no idea how any of this works but i dont like khris middleton"

[JonHeist]

in our current situation having khris on the worst contract in the league would be much better than having no khris

[DingleJerry]

The way salary caps work in the NBA there is simply no way you can let him walk in such a situation. Have to think there is a way to work out a compromise here with a long time player like him.

[Couch Potato]

You cannot let your second best player and best playoff performer walk if you have a superstar in his prime in a small market. Period. Resign Middleton at the max and then figure it out later. He will have plenty of value, even if he’s only a 16 game player. This postseason shows that Khris is exactly the kind of player you need when the game slows down in the playoffs.

The word later is risky with Middleton. I prefer a sign and trade or he opts in and trade him. If we decide to run it back. Then hopefully a Allen,PatC and 2029 first for Rozier would be enough. Then sign Lopez to a cheap two year deal. Brings Middleton back.

[CharityStripe34]

I wanted to vote "Jedi Mind trick him into Opting In which gives Bucks the option of a deadline deal." Or, if he comes back and has a strong season then you can give him a 3-year extension or something.

[averageposter]

Really tough question to answer in a vacuum.

I think He is worth 4/160, his finishing age wouldn't concern me. He has injury history, but they are varied, the wrist was probably a contact injury, the wet spot, bad luck, and when they pile up on the oher side of 30 it can be a concern. There isn't anything I'd call chronic though, maybe a sore knee from the original college injury.

Incredibly tough to see how you transition from Jrue if he actually is serious about hanging it up, that is letting it walk for nothing especially if we continue to be over the cap by enough that his departure comes when it doesn't free any spendable money. If I'm having to think about that scenario next year with fewer options than expressed in what moving on from Khris looks like right now does that play into running it back with Khris. If I move Khris plus pieces for anything less than another member of a big 3 what do I do a year beyond that, when Jrue is transitioning to golf.

Then there is Bud, if my Khris for player of a particular type wishlist includes guys who won't fail to run offense in tight playoff games, like a "real" pg, is that the same issue if the architect of the current system isn't here.