Bucks News, Transactions and Trade Ideas - 2025 Off-season

[buckboy]

I get that Flagg is the shiny new draft toy but ppl do realize he reclassified to avoid the 2026 draft because there was zero chance he was going to be the top prospect right? Dybansta, Peterson and Boozer were all rated higher as high school prospects than him. He wouldn’t even be a consensus top 3 pick next year let alone the top guy. Trading Giannis for him is absolutely crazy and short sighted at a minimum. You want draft picks for Giannis, load up on 2026 lotto tickets not 2025.

Flagg will be a good pro but a generational talent he’s something he is not.

Flagg is the best prospect on that list.

We can obviously revisit in 5 years, but I'm confident in that.

[Frank Nova]

I’m retracting a prior statement. Flagg was never ranked behind Peterson in 2023. 1. Dybansta 2. Flagg 3. Boozer is consensus so just wanted to clarify I was wrong lol.

[pifhluk23]

What would you think of Luka for Giannis? Luka is four years younger and this could give us another 10 years of relevance. Giannis might have only another elite 4-5 years, and he could be on a similar trajectory as Russell Westbrook with his reliance on athleticism. Westbrook’s last elite year was arguably at age 32 with Washington. Luka could give the franchise a reset and be an impetus to get a new coach in here.

You want to bring a guy who struggles with weight to WI?

You'd need some kind of commitment from him because he has a player option 26/27. We either stick with Giannis or if he asks out try to get Flagg.

[emunney]

I’m retracting a prior statement. Flagg was never ranked behind Peterson in 2023. 1. Dybansta 2. Flagg 3. Boozer is consensus so just wanted to clarify I was wrong lol.

All three of those guys are terrific prospects. They just happened to be in the same class. Have no idea who turns out the best but how Flagg has performed as an unusually young player in an unusually old NCAA environment has been extremely impressive.

[tedbrogen]

What would you think of Luka for Giannis? Luka is four years younger and this could give us another 10 years of relevance. Giannis might have only another elite 4-5 years, and he could be on a similar trajectory as Russell Westbrook with his reliance on athleticism. Westbrook’s last elite year was arguably at age 32 with Washington. Luka could give the franchise a reset and be an impetus to get a new coach in here.

I’d probably do it because of age assuming Luka would extend. Luka while way inferior on D has shown he has enough BBIQ to offset bad coaching on O. He can play with nonshooters if you want to surround him with defensive players. That and the age lets you wait out the Dame/Kuz contracts.

[emunney]

Any trade package with another top 5 player would very easily clear every package without one.

[GHOSTofSIKMA]

I'm surprised nobody is talking about the Athletic Giannis trade proposal article. Guys came up with their deals and then they had Nehm comment on them. It's pretty comical to see Nehm talk about how absurd they all are, other than the Houston one which Nehm said is also still too light. If they're going to get a package better than that I can probably stomach it if Giannis asks out.

Bucks get: Amen Thompson, Jalen Green, Cam Whitmore, Donovan Clingan, 2025 first (via Phoenix), 2027 first (via Phoenix), 2029 first (most favorable of Milwaukee, Portland or Washington), 2028 and 2030 Milwaukee swap rights extinguished
Rockets get: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jerami Grant
Trail Blazers get: Alperen Şengün, Jock Landale

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6328255/2025/05/02/giannis-antetokounmpo-trade-rumors-proposals-bucks/

Yeah, I'm against trading Giannis but even that package is getting you everything you could want.
1. An elite prospect
2. Your own picks back for a chance to tank if Amen doesnt turn out
3. 2 Lottery picks

good chance the pheonix picks would be better than ours if we had them

im totally down for this if thats the best. if we can do better than damn

[DingleJerry]

What would you think of Luka for Giannis? Luka is four years younger and this could give us another 10 years of relevance. Giannis might have only another elite 4-5 years, and he could be on a similar trajectory as Russell Westbrook with his reliance on athleticism. Westbrook’s last elite year was arguably at age 32 with Washington. Luka could give the franchise a reset and be an impetus to get a new coach in here.

You want to bring a guy who struggles with weight to WI?

You'd need some kind of commitment from him because he has a player option 26/27. We either stick with Giannis or if he asks out try to get Flagg.

And according to the Dal PR machine, he likes his beer too. Damn, he'd be a perfect fit here. I wonder how the picks would've gone on a Luka/Giannis trade, IMO Dallas should give us 1-2 firsts. OTOH, the age difference might balance it out. And yea, big issue would be if Luka stayed here because chances are the team around him would be quite bad.

Also small nitpick on Flagg to correct. No he didn't win NPOY as a 17 year old. He's a December birthday so he's on the older side for his true class, so was 18 for most of this season. He's 5-6 months younger than some people in the class he changed into. Still impressive and all but we're talking about just a handful of months. And of course others in the class he changed into were 15 months older than him.

[chonestown]

I get that Flagg is the shiny new draft toy but ppl do realize he reclassified to avoid the 2026 draft because there was zero chance he was going to be the top prospect right? Dybansta, Peterson and Boozer were all rated higher as high school prospects than him. He wouldn’t even be a consensus top 3 pick next year let alone the top guy. Trading Giannis for him is absolutely crazy and short sighted at a minimum. You want draft picks for Giannis, load up on 2026 lotto tickets not 2025.

Flagg will be a good pro but a generational talent he’s something he is not.

This post screams to me you haven't actually seen all these guys or know their full story. Dybansta is nice, but he doesn't have even close to the bbiq of Flagg. Especially since AJ's family pulled that crap where a player is held back intentionally when younger so he was a 16 year old freshman, so he gets to absolutely dominate middle schoolers and be ULTRA advanced for his class but he's actually older than all of them and then they go and reclass back down to their actual age once they properly built their hype up. Always a red flag with every player who does that. I guarantee next college season half this board is going to be posting about "how was AJ Dybansta ranked above these other dudes? he's just an athletic 6'9 dude who takes really tough shots".

Boozer just isn't better than Flagg. Not even a discussion whatsoever and it will be obvious when he plays at Duke in the same system next year and is a lesser version of Flagg.

Peterson has come on and might be the best of those 3, but to me his upside is still like a less athletic Anthony Edwards, which is still phenomenal obviously, but hardly clearly but better than the others he's mocked next to.

Cooper is going to be rich man's Jimmy Butler/Kawhi. Rich man's version of those guys. He's everything those dudes were defensively and more, and soooooooooo much more advanced offensively that it's almost insulting to compare those 2 as prospects to Cooper.

theirs literally no president for flag

[tedbrogen]

What would you think of Luka for Giannis? Luka is four years younger and this could give us another 10 years of relevance. Giannis might have only another elite 4-5 years, and he could be on a similar trajectory as Russell Westbrook with his reliance on athleticism. Westbrook’s last elite year was arguably at age 32 with Washington. Luka could give the franchise a reset and be an impetus to get a new coach in here.

You want to bring a guy who struggles with weight to WI?

You'd need some kind of commitment from him because he has a player option 26/27. We either stick with Giannis or if he asks out try to get Flagg.

And according to the Dal PR machine, he likes his beer too. Damn, he'd be a perfect fit here. I wonder how the picks would've gone on a Luka/Giannis trade, IMO Dallas should give us 1-2 firsts. OTOH, the age difference might balance it out. And yea, big issue would be if Luka stayed here because chances are the team around him would be quite bad.

Also small nitpick on Flagg to correct. No he didn't win NPOY as a 17 year old. He's a December birthday so he's on the older side for his true class, so was 18 for most of this season. He's 5-6 months younger than some people in the class he changed into. Still impressive and all but we're talking about just a handful of months. And of course others in the class he changed into were 15 months older than him.

Not to mention, the guy who was his main competition for NPOY was like 24 or 34 or something crazy.

[jakecronus8]

Flagg reminds me of Giannis in many ways on the court. Two way ability is off the charts.

[Coach Carter]

Reluctantly watching warriors - rockets, yeh not interested in any of their youngsters.

[Frank Nova]

I get that Flagg is the shiny new draft toy but ppl do realize he reclassified to avoid the 2026 draft because there was zero chance he was going to be the top prospect right? Dybansta, Peterson and Boozer were all rated higher as high school prospects than him. He wouldn’t even be a consensus top 3 pick next year let alone the top guy. Trading Giannis for him is absolutely crazy and short sighted at a minimum. You want draft picks for Giannis, load up on 2026 lotto tickets not 2025.

Flagg will be a good pro but a generational talent he’s something he is not.

This post screams to me you haven't actually seen all these guys or know their full story. Dybansta is nice, but he doesn't have even close to the bbiq of Flagg. Especially since AJ's family pulled that crap where a player is held back intentionally when younger so he was a 16 year old freshman, so he gets to absolutely dominate middle schoolers and be ULTRA advanced for his class but he's actually older than all of them and then they go and reclass back down to their actual age once they properly built their hype up. Always a red flag with every player who does that. I guarantee next college season half this board is going to be posting about "how was AJ Dybansta ranked above these other dudes? he's just an athletic 6'9 dude who takes really tough shots".

Boozer just isn't better than Flagg. Not even a discussion whatsoever and it will be obvious when he plays at Duke in the same system next year and is a lesser version of Flagg.

Peterson has come on and might be the best of those 3, but to me his upside is still like a less athletic Anthony Edwards, which is still phenomenal obviously, but hardly clearly but better than the others he's mocked next to.

Cooper is going to be rich man's Jimmy Butler/Kawhi. Rich man's version of those guys. He's everything those dudes were defensively and more, and soooooooooo much more advanced offensively that it's almost insulting to compare those 2 as prospects to Cooper.

I like your confidence. Rich man’s Jimmy Butler/Kawhi Leonard is what LeBron James? Lol. The Flagg love is out of pocket but that’s cool it’s something to talk about. Maybe it’s warranted we’ll see. Dybansta is 18yrs old and headed to college, I’m not sure what the problem is there? He’s been the consensus top prospect since 2023. Dumb fun fact, I have Dybansta on 2 of my dynasty fantasy NBA teams as a prospect for the past 2 years so I’ve been watching him play and following him. I also watched quite a bit of Flagg last year and I don’t remember ever coming away thinking “that dudes gonna dominate the NBA”. He played Pitt twice and was always on ACC Network when he wasn’t on national TV so yeah it wasn’t hard to watch him play. We can see things differently, I’m not screaming at anyone lol. Saying I haven’t seen them play more than just YouTube highlights isn’t accurate tho. I’ve been forming my opinion on this for the past 2 years. Time will tell.

[JonHeist]

Flagg is the best college prospect I've ever seen

(gf is a big duke fan, so I've seen a lot)

he really does play like a bigger kawhi and is the most polished 18-year-old since luka

still only like a 10% chance he ends up as good as giannis -- and he's a big Celtics fan

[th87]

To me I can't believe they had to give Doc a huge multi year deal. Mid season I get your options are limited, so I thought he was a fine stabilizer type option. Definition of mediocrity. But once he wouldn't take a deal just to finish the year, or a 1.5 year deal just say OK never mind and roll with assistants. Figure it out in the offseason.

Godfather offer for Doc is laughingstock material, especially given we were competing with no one, and it's not like we were trying to poach Popovich away.

Dunleavy Sr. vibes, but worse. I wonder if Horst knows Bucks history.

[BUCKnation]

I still like my Tatum comp. Flagg is more developed body wise and has a better passing game than he did at the same age though

[BigO]

Trading for Flagg is a huge risk, obviously. It all comes down to evaluation skills.

It's easy for me to be that high on him, but if I was a GM, I'd be doing a lot more evaluation.

From my perch, he's a top 5 in the league. Much better than Tatum (I don't consider Tatum top 10).

[mattg]

I get that Flagg is the shiny new draft toy but ppl do realize he reclassified to avoid the 2026 draft because there was zero chance he was going to be the top prospect right? Dybansta, Peterson and Boozer were all rated higher as high school prospects than him. He wouldn’t even be a consensus top 3 pick next year let alone the top guy. Trading Giannis for him is absolutely crazy and short sighted at a minimum. You want draft picks for Giannis, load up on 2026 lotto tickets not 2025.

Flagg will be a good pro but a generational talent he’s something he is not.

This post screams to me you haven't actually seen all these guys or know their full story. Dybansta is nice, but he doesn't have even close to the bbiq of Flagg. Especially since AJ's family pulled that crap where a player is held back intentionally when younger so he was a 16 year old freshman, so he gets to absolutely dominate middle schoolers and be ULTRA advanced for his class but he's actually older than all of them and then they go and reclass back down to their actual age once they properly built their hype up. Always a red flag with every player who does that. I guarantee next college season half this board is going to be posting about "how was AJ Dybansta ranked above these other dudes? he's just an athletic 6'9 dude who takes really tough shots".

Boozer just isn't better than Flagg. Not even a discussion whatsoever and it will be obvious when he plays at Duke in the same system next year and is a lesser version of Flagg.

Peterson has come on and might be the best of those 3, but to me his upside is still like a less athletic Anthony Edwards, which is still phenomenal obviously, but hardly clearly but better than the others he's mocked next to.

Cooper is going to be rich man's Jimmy Butler/Kawhi. Rich man's version of those guys. He's everything those dudes were defensively and more, and soooooooooo much more advanced offensively that it's almost insulting to compare those 2 as prospects to Cooper.

I like your confidence. Rich man’s Jimmy Butler/Kawhi Leonard is what LeBron James? Lol. The Flagg love is out of pocket but that’s cool it’s something to talk about. Maybe it’s warranted we’ll see. Dybansta is 18yrs old and headed to college, I’m not sure what the problem is there? He’s been the consensus top prospect since 2023. Dumb fun fact, I have Dybansta on 2 of my dynasty fantasy NBA teams as a prospect for the past 2 years so I’ve been watching him play and following him. I also watched quite a bit of Flagg last year and I don’t remember ever coming away thinking “that dudes gonna dominate the NBA”. He played Pitt twice and was always on ACC Network when he wasn’t on national TV so yeah it wasn’t hard to watch him play. We can see things differently, I’m not screaming at anyone lol. Saying I haven’t seen them play more than just YouTube highlights isn’t accurate tho. I’ve been forming my opinion on this for the past 2 years. Time will tell.

Rich man's Butler or Kawhi isn't Lebron, different archetype of player. But when you look at what Flagg does on the court, it's a rich man's version of both those dudes. Take what either of those dudes were as draft prospects, make them better in every single way, make them multiple years younger, make them substantially more impactful and productive on court, and you have Flagg as a prospect.

Dybansta is literally only 1 month and 8 days younger than Flagg who re-classed to play in college a year early where he was 17 and then a young 18 year old playing guys 5+ years older than him, while Dybansta is playing HS competition and yet your impression is/was that Flagg re-classed specifically to get away from Boozer/AJ? AJ had to re-class just to be back in his actual grade level after being 6+ months older than what is typically the oldest kid in any grade. Like the oldest kids coming into freshman year of HS will be 14 turning 15 in September right at the start of the school year. Maybe a few August birthdays so the kids are 15 coming in. Dybansta was 15 in January of his 8th grade year and 16 mid way through his freshman basketball season. He's a great player of course, but IMO his hype is inflated.

Since AJ will be playing in college at almost a full year older than Flagg was, is your expectation that he will average better numbers than Flagg did while also winning National Player of the Year and leading his team to the Final 4?

[Bobicous]

Didn't Flagg go practice with the US team of NBA guys and show out? Seems if we move on from Giannis then try for the best upside guys and pics.

[Bernman]

Sign the Fire Doc Rivers petition! https://www.change.org/p/fire-doc-rivers-94187749-e4d6-423e-b8fd-786286e99765

(I added a note many of us will boycott their products. I didn't say all bcuz it's not an organized boycott. But note that you will upon signing).

Can this get its own thread, or just a general collective action one to fire Doc/enact change?