Bucks News, Trade Ideas, Transactions

[MikeIsGood]

My personal TLDR: Khris is not playing anytime soon.

[Bernman]

NM

[paulpressey25]

All the pertinent Jim O. quotes are in the prior post. The story was sort of a nothing burger. Khris says he doesn't feel ready, Jim goes on to report multiple great charitable events and activities Middleton has been a part of recently.

[ReddoverKobe]

My personal TLDR: Khris is not playing anytime soon.

If he's not back by dec 20th there is something else going on. That is 4 games + the cup.

[Matches Malone]

The Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors, and Cleveland Cavaliers are among the teams monitoring Kyle Kuzma, per @MikeAScotto

Read on Twitter

[DingleJerry]

The Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors, and Cleveland Cavaliers are among the teams monitoring Kyle Kuzma, per @MikeAScotto

Read on Twitter

Nah, I'd rather have DJ Wilson

[Ron Swanson]

It's noteworthy in that Middleton's contract would need to be outgoing in order to work financially in a Kuzma trade. He's been **** awful even when he hasn't been hurt though, so this is probably just seeing if there's a buy-low opportunity there. I don't really trust his motivation/drive to be a winning basketball player at this point.

[Bernman]

Playing on the lowly Wizards would be de-motivating. Giving him a change of scenery may prove a savvy move for someone. For us, he fits Giannis' timeline. I wouldn't trade any of our big 3 for him, or the '31 1st cuz he's too old to overlap with it. He'd only be worth lotto or at least top 10 protected anyway. Maybe you could structure it like that cuz the hit wouldn't be as bad.

You can trade for Kuzma, even directly w/ the Wizards, w/out giving up Khris. You can aggregate to get below the 2nd apron by dealing into the Wiz' $12m exceptions. Bobby/Pat/Beauchamp + '31 top 10 protected 1st for Kuzma works.

[EasyE31]

Playing on the lowly Wizards would be de-motivating. Giving him a change of scenery may prove a savvy move for someone. For us, he fits Giannis' timeline. I wouldn't trade any of our big 3 for him, or the '31 1st cuz he's too old to overlap with it. He'd only be worth lotto or at least top 10 protected anyway. Maybe you could structure it like that cuz the hit wouldn't be as bad.

You can trade for Kuzma, even directly w/ the Wizards, w/out giving up Khris. You can aggregate to get below the 2nd apron by dealing into the Wiz' $12m exceptions. Bobby/Pat/Beauchamp + '31 top 10 protected 1st for Kuzma works.

Bobby/Pat/Marjon works to match Kuzma's salary but you'd still need to find another $8ish million to shed to get under the 2nd apron. I don't see how htey could trade for Kuzma unless you are dealing Brook or Middleton.

[Bernman]

Bobby/Pat/Marjon works to match Kuzma's salary but you'd still need to find another $8ish million to shed to get under the 2nd apron. I don't see how htey could trade for Kuzma unless you are dealing Brook or Middleton.

What I had in there was accepted. Maybe I left in Brook. I retried and that's accepted across the board, replacing Bobby. You could get back Val so you have a center. Would have to wait a few weeks & add around 6m outgoing in salary. Delon & a couple more.

People may not want to concede Brook. I might not either. But it works w/out Middleton. And if you deal Brook, you may not have to concede the '31 1st, even protected. But you'd need a 3rd team to give the Wiz what they want.

[ShootingtheJ]

I'm guessing the Bucks checked in on Kuzma to get involved in a 3 way deal. We let the Wizards know of players they could ask for in the Kuzma deal that we'd give up our 2031 1st for

[EasyE31]

Bobby/Pat/Marjon works to match Kuzma's salary but you'd still need to find another $8ish million to shed to get under the 2nd apron. I don't see how htey could trade for Kuzma unless you are dealing Brook or Middleton.

What I had in there was accepted. Maybe I left in Brook. I retried and that's accepted across the board, replacing Bobby. You could get back Val so you have a center. Would have to wait a few weeks & add around 6m outgoing in salary. Delon & a couple more.

People may not want to concede Brook. I might not either. But it works w/out Middleton. And if you deal Brook, you may not have to concede the '31 1st, even protected. But you'd need a 3rd team to give the Wiz what they want.

I don't think the trade machines have the player aggregation thing built in correctly.

Bobby/Pat/Marjon combined represent $24.7m. Kuzma makes $23.5m.

My understanding is that the Bucks can only aggregate players if the trade leaves them below the 2nd apron. According to Frank Madden the Bucks are currently $6.5m above the 2nd apron. So in order to make this trade work they'd have to ship out another $5m or so.

[ShootingtheJ]

Pelicans writer who had the inside scoop on Ingram hiring Klutch thinks it'll accelerate a trade:

Multiple league sources have relayed to me that the Pelicans and Jazz were deep in talks which were shut down by Ingram's lack of desire to re-sign in Salt Lake City.

This is important info, because it highlights that money is not presumably everything for Ingram. I do think it was in his best interests to just take the money, however. The cap landscape for next summer is a harsh one. Only the Brooklyn Nets project to have signficiant cap space, which will undoubtedly limit the number of Ingram suitors at the dollar figure he is seeking.

Nonetheless, either Ingram just doesn't want any part of Utah, or feels he can get comparable money in a better situation. This part remains to be seen and is what Klutch will be asked to tackle.

I expect the Ingram situation to get “messy” in a public fashion. It is entirely possible that Klutch and David Griffin can work together to find an amicable solution, but my guess is that the mess will spur action in a situation that has been quite stale for months. For this reason, I don't believe Ingram going this route is necessarily a bad thing.

The Pelicans have long needed to rip the band-aid off and this may finally be the catalyst. Regrettably, this is somewhat of a self created issue for the Pelicans. As readers of this substack know, we here have long called out the dangers of holding onto Ingram as he entered the final year of his contract. Players of his stature always have some degree of control with their threat of walking at the conclusion of the deal. The Pelicans experienced this first hand with regards to Utah.

Due to these culminating factors, I think the Pelicans won't find a robust return in any Ingram trade. Here are the key things I think they should seek to accomplish in any deal:

-Tax relief, both current and future. The Pelicans are over the tax at the moment and can't afford take on large long term contracts that will cause recurring tax issues.
-An intriguing young prospect. I am doubtful that premium draft capital will be on the table, but I do beleive some teams might be willing to part with a singular young player. The Pelicans need to indentify the young player worth pursuing. For example, could the Pistons offer salary and Ausar Thompson?
-Replenishing of second round picks. Where firsts can't be obtained, the Pelicans need to ask for seconds. As many as possible.
-Offensive minded players. The Pelicans need to continue to add offensively minded players to the roster to make everyone's job easier. This ideally needs to be on the perimeter in the form of shooting or creation, or both!

None of this is ideal, but the window for ideal is long gone.

https://intheno.substack.com/p/brandon-ingram-leaves-excel-sports

If the Pelicans decide to completely pull the plug on the season, they should get Eason as part of the Ingram deal, and send him here for draft compensation.

[Bernman]

I don't think the trade machines have the player aggregation thing built in correctly.

Bobby/Pat/Marjon combined represent $24.7m. Kuzma makes $23.5m.

My understanding is that the Bucks can only aggregate players if the trade leaves them below the 2nd apron. According to Frank Madden the Bucks are currently $6.5m above the 2nd apron. So in order to make this trade work they'd have to ship out another $5m or so.

I know. As I said, I must have left in Brook accidentally. He was in my original proposal. Retried Bobby/Pat/Marjon (pick) & it naturally doesn't work. Brook instead of Bobby does. That's what you'd have to sacrifice. You could get back Val to replace Brook if you shed 6m then (a few around minimums). Or maybe a 3rd team supplies a better center fit.

You'd still have Bobby to get like a Paul Reed & Marcus Sasser type deal. The rotation would be: Giannis, Dame, Middleton, Kuzma, Val, Prince, Sasser, Green, Ajax, Reed, maybe Trent (unless he's outgoing). Pretty strong. It's kinda imbalanced. I assume Kuzma would be 6th man & small ball 4 in the typical closing lineup. You'd have another sort of core player going fw.

It could work, but I'd probably prefer different routes, like ones that don't involve trading Brook. He has more value to us than just about anybody. I'd like to see him finish his career here. He could be an asset, so long as he's used properly.

[raferfenix]

Kyle Kuzma doesn't play any defense, right?

Brook for him straight up doesn't work. We'd need to trade either Bobby into their open MLE or MarJon + Connaughton into their open exceptions to drop beneath the 2nd apron.

In theory we could do Brook + Bobby + Connaughton for Kuzma + JV.

Or something bigger with Middleton.

Got a hard time seeing it though.

[EasyE31]

The Bucks have righted the ship without Middleton in the lineup and I think its time to think about moving on from him.

Bucks out: Middleton, Portis, 2031 1st
Bucks in: Cam Johnson, Cam Thomas, Paul Reed

Warriors in: Portis
Warriors out: Deanthony Melton, 2025 1st, 2031 2nd

Nets in: Middleton, Warriors 1st, Bucks 1st
Nets out: Johnson, Thomas

Pistons in: Melton
Pistons out: Reed

This gets the Bucks under the 2nd apron and adds significant fire power to the offense. Plus this locks the Bucks into Johnson longer term to replace Middleton.

Leaves the Bucks with:

Lillard/Wright
Green/Thomas/GTJ
Johnson/AJAX/Pat
Giannis/Prince
Brook/Reed

Given they are now under the apron they could move some combo of Pat/GTJ/Marjon for another contributor.

[raferfenix]

If Middleton were to hit the block that'd certainly shake up what kind of trades are possible if only due to his salary slot.

Per Michael Scotto:

The new plot twist executives around the league are monitoring closely is if Horst would consider moving Milwaukee’s 2031 first-round pick to move the needle on the trade market with the salaries of Portis, Connaughton, and even the possibility of Middleton, who’s owed $31.67 million this season and has a $34 million player option next season.

https://hoopshype.com/lists/top-nba-trade-candidates-for-the-2024-25-season/

[crowhead76]

Pat, Marjon, and the 2031 2nd for Paul Reed would sure seem to make quite a bit of sense.

Lillard | Wright | AJ Johnson
AJJ | Green | Trent Jr | Rollins (2way)
Middleton | Prince | Livingston | Umede (2way)
Giannis | Portis | Smith
Lopez | Reed | Roberts (2way)

[Dick Tate]

The new plot twist... is if Horst would consider...

Plot twist
How to make nothing sound like something.

[randy84]

Pat, Marjon, and the 2031 2nd for Paul Reed would sure seem to make quite a bit of sense.

Lillard | Wright | AJ Johnson
AJJ | Green | Trent Jr | Rollins (2way)
Middleton | Prince | Livingston | Umede (2way)
Giannis | Portis | Smith
Lopez | Reed | Roberts (2way)

Not if you follow the salary cap rules.