Bucks News, Transactions, Trade Ideas

[rilamann]

Saw a bleacher report trade idea giving up Dame/Smith and Ajax/31 and swaps for Trae Young. Sign me up on that

If you made a version of Dame that was a way better fit with Giannis. It would be Trae Young.


I am not a huge Trae Young guy, But that would be a great deal for us.

[buckboy]

According to Cris Davis on X

Report: When the San Antonio Spurs inquired about Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks reportedly set a steep asking price for the two-time MVP. According to sources, the Bucks demanded:

1. Stephon Castle
2. Devin Vassell
3. Jeremy Sochan
4. 2025 No. 2 overall pick
5. Hawks' first-round picks (controlled by Spurs)
6. *FIVE* additional first-round picks

The hefty price tag signaled Milwaukee's reluctance to trade their superstar unless an overwhelming offer was made, forcing the Spurs to reconsider sacrificing their young core and significant draft capital.

I'd bet my life that that conversation never took place.

[JonHeist]

According to Cris Davis on X

Report: When the San Antonio Spurs inquired about Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks reportedly set a steep asking price for the two-time MVP. According to sources, the Bucks demanded:

1. Stephon Castle
2. Devin Vassell
3. Jeremy Sochan
4. 2025 No. 2 overall pick
5. Hawks' first-round picks (controlled by Spurs)
6. *FIVE* additional first-round picks

The hefty price tag signaled Milwaukee's reluctance to trade their superstar unless an overwhelming offer was made, forcing the Spurs to reconsider sacrificing their young core and significant draft capital.

I'd bet my life that that conversation never took place.

good bet

the spurs only have 4 tradeable future firsts (29, 31 swap with LAC(unprotected), 30 swap with dallas(unprotected)/minnestoa(top-1-protected), 2028 sawp with Boston(top-1-protected))

(if you don't count #2 and the 3 hawks picks (#14, 2026, 2027))

[ShootingtheJ]

Saw a bleacher report trade idea giving up Dame/Smith and Ajax/31 and swaps for Trae Young. Sign me up on that

If you made a version of Dame that was a way better fit with Giannis. It would be Trae Young.


I am not a huge Trae Young guy, But that would be a great deal for us.

Yeah he can throw a lob, which we don't have now, but he still overhandles the ball and has no interest in defense.

I'd do the deal, and then immediately deal Young.

[Profound23]

Saw a bleacher report trade idea giving up Dame/Smith and Ajax/31 and swaps for Trae Young. Sign me up on that

If you made a version of Dame that was a way better fit with Giannis. It would be Trae Young.


I am not a huge Trae Young guy, But that would be a great deal for us.

Yeah he can throw a lob, which we don't have now, but he still overhandles the ball and has no interest in defense.

I'd do the deal, and then immediately deal Young.

Hence why there is no way ATL takes that deal. If ATL trades Trae it's going to at least be a Bane type of deal....probably more.

[raferfenix]

- AJ Green & Ryan Rollins coming to Greece to work out w/ Giannis

I just listened to Simmons interview of Doc and he made a point of talking about coaching up Shai and Maxey as their careers were first getting off the ground.

Whatever combo of young guards we keep (KPJ / Trent not going to Greece?) wouldn’t it be nice if Doc earns his keep.

[BigO]

- AJ Green & Ryan Rollins coming to Greece to work out w/ Giannis

I just listened to Simmons interview of Doc and he made a point of talking about coaching up Shai and Maxey as their careers were first getting off the ground.

Whatever combo of young guards we keep (KPJ / Trent not going to Greece?) wouldn’t it be nice if Doc earns his keep.

I am always skeptical of giving coaches credit for the development of players. Perhaps some assistant coaches have some influence, but the greatness of players is due to their innate ability, work ethic, bbiq and coaches who worked with them growing up and during the off seasons.

[Licensed to Il]

- AJ Green & Ryan Rollins coming to Greece to work out w/ Giannis

I just listened to Simmons interview of Doc and he made a point of talking about coaching up Shai and Maxey as their careers were first getting off the ground.

Whatever combo of young guards we keep (KPJ / Trent not going to Greece?) wouldn’t it be nice if Doc earns his keep.

I am always skeptical of giving coaches credit for the development of players. Perhaps some assistant coaches have some influence, but the greatness of players is due to their innate ability, work ethic, bbiq and coaches who worked with them growing up and during the off seasons.

I think this is mostly true. And I'm not a huge Doc Rivers fan. But he was a (near?) all star level NBA guard. He absolutely has things to teach young players about reads, progressions, set up moves, etc that help. You (generally) get more advanced coaching as you move up the ladder and interact with coaches that have played and coached on the highest levels.

[Profound23]

- AJ Green & Ryan Rollins coming to Greece to work out w/ Giannis

I just listened to Simmons interview of Doc and he made a point of talking about coaching up Shai and Maxey as their careers were first getting off the ground.

Whatever combo of young guards we keep (KPJ / Trent not going to Greece?) wouldn’t it be nice if Doc earns his keep.

To be fair, Doc has made a career off of taking credit for every player who evolves but passing blame for anything that goes wrong.

Both SGA and Maxey evolved more after Doc left. Could this be partly d/t his coaching? Sure, but one could also say his coaching stumped their growth while he was actively coaching them.

If it is true that he had something to do with their growth, then I wish even more that we never traded away AJJ.

[ShootingtheJ]

- AJ Green & Ryan Rollins coming to Greece to work out w/ Giannis

I just listened to Simmons interview of Doc and he made a point of talking about coaching up Shai and Maxey as their careers were first getting off the ground.

Whatever combo of young guards we keep (KPJ / Trent not going to Greece?) wouldn’t it be nice if Doc earns his keep.

To be fair, Doc has made a career off of taking credit for every player who evolves but passing blame for anything that goes wrong.

Both SGA and Maxey evolved more after Doc left. Could this be partly d/t his coaching? Sure, but one could also say his coaching stumped their growth while he was actively coaching them.

If it is true that he had something to do with their growth, then I wish even more that we never traded away AJJ.

Maxey has been worse under Nurse than he was under Doc. He's an empty stats guy now. He was a winning player under Doc.

His game shouldn't be going backwards in his age 23 and 24 seasons.

[mlloyd10]

Can we S&T Lopez?

If So, S&T Lopez for Hachimura

[pifhluk23]

I guess if you can convince ATL they can flip Dame for another 2 picks but I feel like that's just another one of those if he's available we are getting outbid trades. No way Young goes for less than Bane.

[soxperry]

Atlanta is not trading Young. They are going to be a pretty talented squad if they're fully healthy next year and I'm sure their ownership is more than happy to be a solid playoff team in the east.

Speaking of...

Atlanta and to a larger extent Orlando are teams that really gave us problems because of the youth and athleticism. I really hope we can come back next year and at the very least be far less susceptible to what isn't even really a skill just a reality of modern NBA

[ShootingtheJ]

Can we S&T Lopez?

If So, S&T Lopez for Hachimura

We can sign and trade Lopez, but sign and trade rules only allow for taking back half the salary you send out, and Lopez isn't getting $37 million a year, so no Hachimura deal.

I'm guessing Brook gets $6-10 million per year, which would make it similar to last years Buddy Hield sign and trade. The 76ers got a 2nd round pick in the deal.

The Lakers have always been interested in Kuzma. A Kuzma and parts for Hachimura and parts should be discussed. Remind the Lakers of the success Ajax had guarding SGA.

[German Athens]

Can we S&T Lopez?

If So, S&T Lopez for Hachimura

We can sign and trade Lopez, but sign and trade rules only allow for taking back half the salary you send out, and Lopez isn't getting $37 million a year, so no Hachimura deal.

I'm guessing Brook gets $6-10 million per year, which would make it similar to last years Buddy Hield sign and trade. The 76ers got a 2nd round pick in the deal.

The Lakers have always been interested in Kuzma. A Kuzma and parts for Hachimura and parts should be discussed. Remind the Lakers of the success Ajax had guarding SGA.

Taking back half the salary is only true if BYC is triggered, but that would require a 20% raise over the previous salary, in the case of Brook, that won’t happen.

So, standard salary matching will apply instead.

[Ron Swanson]

Marks:

The Milwaukee Bucks will aggressively pursue free agency and trade options to complement Giannis Antetokounmpo this offseason, sources confirmed to ESPN, despite three consecutive first-round playoff exits.

The Khris Middleton-Kyle Kuzma trade provides Milwaukee with valuable exceptions to pursue upgrades. The Bucks can utilize a $14.1 million nontaxpayer midlevel exception and $5.1 million biannual exception to re-sign Gary Trent Jr. or a temporary point guard in the absence of Lillard.

However, retaining free agents Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis while using both exceptions appears unlikely. The team's salary structure presents additional challenges, with 79 percent of payroll committed to Antetokounmpo, Lillard, and Kuzma.

Pat Connaughton's $9.4 million expiring contract represents Milwaukee's only sizable tradeable asset. CBA rules prevent the Bucks from aggregating smaller contracts with Connaughton to acquire a $25 million player.

Milwaukee could potentially circumvent these restrictions through sign-and-trade scenarios involving Lopez or Portis if his player option is declined. The Kuzma deal also provides flexibility to exceed 100 percent of traded player exceptions in future transactions.

Nothing really ground-breaking here but I don't really understand what he means by the bolded. "Aggressively pursuing trade options" while listing Pat as their only sizable contract to trade? Yeah, they're not looking to move Kuzma at all. We've discussed the S&T route with Brook/Bobby, but no mention of Kevin Porter or using the new mid-level mechanism to absorb a player salary.

[soxperry]

Marks:

The Milwaukee Bucks will aggressively pursue free agency and trade options to complement Giannis Antetokounmpo this offseason, sources confirmed to ESPN, despite three consecutive first-round playoff exits.

The Khris Middleton-Kyle Kuzma trade provides Milwaukee with valuable exceptions to pursue upgrades. The Bucks can utilize a $14.1 million nontaxpayer midlevel exception and $5.1 million biannual exception to re-sign Gary Trent Jr. or a temporary point guard in the absence of Lillard.

However, retaining free agents Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis while using both exceptions appears unlikely. The team's salary structure presents additional challenges, with 79 percent of payroll committed to Antetokounmpo, Lillard, and Kuzma.

Pat Connaughton's $9.4 million expiring contract represents Milwaukee's only sizable tradeable asset. CBA rules prevent the Bucks from aggregating smaller contracts with Connaughton to acquire a $25 million player.

Milwaukee could potentially circumvent these restrictions through sign-and-trade scenarios involving Lopez or Portis if his player option is declined. The Kuzma deal also provides flexibility to exceed 100 percent of traded player exceptions in future transactions.

Nothing really ground-breaking here but I don't really understand what he means by the bolded. "Aggressively pursuing trade options" while listing Pat as their only sizable contract to trade? Yeah, they're not looking to move Kuzma at all. We've discussed the S&T route with Brook/Bobby, but no mention of Kevin Porter or using the new mid-level mechanism to absorb a player salary.

Weird. Why would he specifically say 25M? And if he acknowledges that we have the potential to use the mle, why wouldn't he acknowledge that we can also aggregate under the same scenario (being under the first apron)?

We are 100% not going over the first apron. It was a big reason why we traded Khris for Kuzma.

[EasyE31]

Got traction on the trade board with a deal around the ‘31 1st.

My original deal:
‘31 1st (unprotected) for 15+24

The feedback was that the bucks shouldn’t do it, and OKC should take it and run.

Someone else proposed:

‘31 1st (top 4 protected) for 15+24

I said I don’t want to protect the pick, because then you aren’t maximizing the value of it. So, Isaiah Joe was brought up.

A Portland fan proposed:
Bobby + ‘31 1st (top 4 protected) for Jaylin Williams , Isaiah Joe, 15, + 24

Im not super interested in moving off Bobby for something like that, so my latest is this:

Pat + ‘31 1st (unprotected) for Joe, 15, 24

That deal would allow OKC to duck the 2nd apron and keep their starting unit together after they extend Jalen + Chet next summer.

This is the exact type of deal I'd like to see them do.

What about this? Nikola Topic + 15 + 24 for the 31 first and 47. Topic fits in our trade exception so don't need to send salary back. Gives us more upside than someone like Joe or Williams (Topic would have been a top 10 pick last year if healthy).

[Ron Swanson]

No real interest in breaking up the 2031 1st into multiple pieces and especially not for picks in this draft. I'd be wondering what's the highest pick we could dangle our 2026 secondary swap for.

[SirChurros]

I like the trade that ESPN article has with us getting WCJ, Dosunmu and Howard but I don’t like adding the first. But maybe worth it if you get rid of Kuzma.

The Johnson one isn’t awful.

The Beal one is gross.