JULY 9TH, 12:33pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
“The entire Bucks organization is thrilled to welcome Greg to Milwaukee,” GM John Hammond said. “Greg will be a fantastic complement to the talented young roster we’re assembling. The fact that he chose Milwaukee speaks volumes about the culture we’re developing and the bright future we envision for the Bucks.”
“Greg is a skilled low-post scorer and rebounder, and will add a whole new dimension to our young roster,” coach Jason Kidd said. “He’s just 25 years old and still scratching the surface of his potential. I’m looking forward to helping him develop along with our other talented young players.”
11:40am: Falk strongly denies to Marc Berman of the New York Post that the Knicks didn’t offer the max (Twitter links), and confirms to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com that the Lakers and Blazers did, too, with Milwaukee’s playoff-readiness at the heart of Monroe’s decision (Twitter link).
10:37am: The Knicks, Lakers and Blazers also offered the max, as Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck hears, so that’s conflicting information on New York’s offer (Twitter link). The max for three years will be an estimated $50MM, as Wojnarowski pegs it in his full story.
9:20am: It’ll be a three-year contract with a player option on the final season, Wojnarowski tweets. Monroe will be eligible for a higher max bracket in two years, just as the salary cap is projected to reach its peak.
Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
JULY 2ND, 9:02am: Greg Monroe will sign a maximum-salary contract with the Bucks, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The David Falk client was to meet with the Knicks, who long appeared the front-runners for him, as well as the Lakers and Blazers. The Knicks didn’t offer the max to Monroe, as USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt hears, perhaps explaining why he didn’t end up in New York (Twitter link). He’ll make about $16MM this coming season on a max deal, though it’s not immediately clear how long the contract, which can’t become official until the July Moratorium ends next week, will run.
Milwaukee has reportedly been keen on signing a marquee center, having eyed Tyson Chandler and Brook Lopez, among others, and Monroe, No. 7 on our Free Agent Power Rankings from last month, fits the bill. The Bucks will have to sign him using cap room, meaning his deal will almost certainly become official before Khris Middleton’s reported five-year, $70MM pact does, since Middleton’s cap hold will balloon from $2.725MM to eight figures once he signs.
It’s no surprise that Monroe is leaving the Pistons, as even though Falk and Monroe insisted that Detroit had a shot to keep him, with Monroe going so far as to say the Pistons had the “upper hand” at one point, it seemed a strong bet that he’d leave ever since he signed his qualifying offer from the Pistons last year. The Pistons reportedly offered less than the max when Monroe was a restricted free agent in 2014, so it appears his gamble paid off. I thought he’d at least come close to the max when I examined his free agent stock this past spring.
WTF?? Did he even schedule a visit with them?? Do they have cap space? I guess it’s basically an Ilyasova for Monroe swap….man, the Knicks are screwed.
LA some trash had 6 big men on the market not going to get 1. Ik Jordan Hillbis happy
Perfect example of a guy who knows he isn’t very good in the NBA so he just goes where the money cuz who goes to the Bucks must ppl try to leave the bucks
K bro
You’re salty salty salty
How do you know? Did you Blow him? Or was he who you referred to as Dear?
Have you seen the bucks team? Young group with a lot of potential. 2 of their best players are 19 years old. Keep their core together of Middleton, Giannis, and Jabari they will be good for a long long time.
The bucks have made strides as of late keeping Middleton and getting Monroe who us basically a 20 and 10 players every night. Yes while the bucks are a small market team the have become a free agent destination based on their defense and young core.
Ummmmm. This isn’t the Milwaukee bucks of the old new ownership, great coach, up and coming young team, last but not least fear the deer!
Most people try to leave the bucks? Either your a Knicks fan don’t really follow basketball or just stupid. New owners new arena j Kidd bout to be on and poppin in Miltown
You must mean most hey? BTW, Brain Surgeon, Monroe was offered Max $$ by everyone except the dumb a$$ Knicks! He went to the best Roster to offewr him a Contract! Sorry it wasn’t your Sorry Squad! Milwaukee is place that everyone whines about going to, but once they get there, they don’t want to leave! Great City, with really good people! What do you know?!
Huge move for the bucks. Great young team fear the dear.
Typical knicks….. Jackson is a joke!!! Trade melo
I wish there was someone who would take him
LETS GOOOO. FEAR THE DEAR
By dear, do you mean your boyfriend? Or did you mean deer?
Fear the Deer Fans that can’t spell! You make us all look bad! It only takes a 3rd Grade education to spell that one right!
Could have easily been auto correct
That’s a great sign by the Bucks. Missing piece to a young team.
Hahahaha is all u can do to the Knicks
Good riddance they overpaid he can’t play Defense. Lakers & Knicks dodged a bullet.
The Knicks couldn’t dodge a bullet at a Paint Gun Store! And look at the Defensive Statistics of Greg Monroe & you’ll see how ignorant your post is!
All aboard the MCW-Middleton-Antetokounmpo-Parker-Monroe hype train!
Fear the dear, 4 seed here we come
Aka the deer
We’ll see how it plays out, but all starters will be 25 and younger and all talented.
You have no spacing on the floor with that lineup. And no rim protection either, though you do have great perimeter defense to make that not as big of a deal.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is a 1 Man Rim Protecting Party! What are you talking about! And BTW, in case your like most uninformed people on this Thread, Greg Monroe isn’t totally pathetic Protecting the Rim! In Fact, he’s an underrated Defender! Playing in Detroit can make people think they know, but they don’t! Milwaukee Great Defensive Team can hide liabilities like no other! Monroe is PERFECT for this Organization!
Why do you have to outright insult people with your responses?
This is a great pickup for the Bucks. Deal is a 3 year deal, with option for the 3rd year. I’d expect Monroe to opt out of the 3rd year to get a bigger deal when the cap jumps.
It’s a 3 year deal w/a Player Option for the 4th! Why post when misinformed?
Wow…sad days when the Knicks can’t attract 2nd and 3rd tier stars. Not to say that he’s worth a max contract, because he’s not, but still….
I guess a salary cap makes negates the benefits of going to a larger market team. if the money is the same then some stars would rather hide in the grass vs being in the bright lights. The Bucks have a young and up and coming team tho.
Hey Bucks fan, how about we (Cleveland Cavs) take OJ Mayo and Bayless off your hands for salary relief?
Brendan Haywood non-guaranteed contract (gives you $10 mil of cap space) for Mayo and Bayless?
You get Mayo and Bayless off your books (about $11 mil for 2015-16) and get about $10 mil of new cap space for this year and Bayless 2016 salary cleared as well.
Throw john henson in there too
You can have oj for free but Bayless stays
Figured they have Vasquez, Williams, Ante-whatever and Vaughn so Bayless seems like he wouldn’t be missed.
I’m sure the Bucks would do that deal, but Cavs might not want Mayo’s contract. They may prefer to sign JR instead.
OJ only has 1 year left for $8 mil. Smith is rumored to want 3/$24 mil. OJ might be a better alternative.
Salary cap doesn’t necessarily negate going to a large market.
Social media and the ability to make money off the court – via national stage – has more to do with it.
Sure, cap prevents teams like LA / NY from giving a 50M/year guy 100M.
NOBODY wants to play for the Knicks because they’re a Perennial LOSER! Melo is extremely OVERRATED & they can’t help but get into their own way! Too much input from people who don’t matter! They don’t Rebuild(like the Yankee’s)and that’s why they’ll never have a team like the Bucks do until they hire an Entire Front Office that understands that “Draft & Develop” isn’t a Sin! Yes even in the Big Apple! #Fear The Deer 2015/16!!
One more solid signing away from being a top 3 seed in the east. The icing on the cake would be rajon rondo to lead these young bucks!!!
No thanks, Bucks will ride it out with MCW. Rajon is a chemistry killer.
B/c they need another PG that can’t shoot
The Bucks got a trade coming probably. Too many centers on this team now. Trade Bayless and Plumlee for something
The bucks are gonna be a problem soon….roy in mcw, although he has gotta cut out those bone headed plays, scoring machine with jabari, 3 point marksman with Middleton, long athletic wing with the Greek freak, now a solid center in Monroe
Bucks are up and coming. All starters will be 25 or younger. Pachulia is the only one over 30 and I think he could be traded now that Monroe signed.
BTW…shout out to Buck’s fans. 32 comments and counting.
I don’t see the fit. I think Monroe plays the same position as Jabari Parker, the same way he plays the same position as Melo. I’d rather have ilyasova in terms of fit for the Bucks. I thought they would be in on someone like Robin Lopez and maybe a shooter. Monroe helps them with their scoring in the half court. No doubt, but I just don’t see where he fits into their athletic core. Good thing it’s a short deal
Ilyasova & Parker couldn’t be any more different in terms of Skill Set than Monroe is! Your ridiculous & misinformed opinion is based on Monroe playing PF! Which isn’t the case, because Milwaukee wants Monroe playing Center! The Bucks have Parker,Henson,Giannis,& Middleton that can all play the 4! There’s ABSOLUTELY NO REASON for Greg Monroe to play the 4 in Milwaukee! He’s their Starting Center now! From what I saw last year, Kidd will Start PG/MCW, SG/K.Middleton, SF/G.Antetokounmpo, PF/J.Parker,& C/G.Monroe! PF/C-J.Henson will log the top Backup minutes at PF and C behind Monroe, w/Za Za playing when the Matchup calls for it! Henson has finally finished his development & is ready for an increased Role! They needed to Trade Dudley, & w/Mayo & Vasquez coming off the books next year, Rashad Vaughn, J.Bayless,& T.Ennis will play behind the 2 Starting Guards giving the Bucks 1 of the best Benches again next Season! Milwaukee is the Longest & Most Athletic team in the NBA,& it was Genius for Greg Monroe to sign with them, being they have a Young,Long,Athletic,& Extremely Talented Roster that fits Monroe’s Skill Set to a T! This signing makes Milwaukee’s Roster as Talented as ANY in the NBA! #Fear The Deer!
First of all, if you really read my comment, you would see how high I am on the bucks. I simply said I don’t see the fit for them, not that I don’t get why Monroe wild choose them. Secondly, if you really think it makes sense for Monroe to play the 5, I don’t know what to say. Defensively, that is laughable, but like I said, they do have great perimeter defense to make it less of an issue, and you alluded to John Henson and Zaza (for some reason I always forget about him, even when he was in atlanta). Those guys do some of the things Monroe doesn’t do, so perhaps it works out. I just am curious to see how they figure out their rotations
This is a great signing for the Bucks. They had Zaza, Henson, Freak, and Plumlee and not a single one of them could consistently score inside or secure 10 boards a night. When B. Lopez went off the board this was the logical choice for both sides. Monroe gets max money, gets back to free agency when the cap peaks, and has one of the best young cores around him in order to win. His defense is underrated as well and if you look at the raw numbers he actually held the opponents to fewer points while he was at center w/ Drummond off the floor then Drummond did with Monroe off the floor. With Atlanta moving backwards by replacing Carroll with Hardaway I might go so far as to say the Bucks after this signing are the clear 4 team in the East and the gap between them and the Hawks has considerably closed. As far as trade scenarios go the Cavs with Haywood and a future 1st for Bayless and Mayo makes sense for both sides. The Cavs upgrade over Delly with Bayless and add to their bench depth with Mayo while the Bucks clear 11 million off the payroll and create more minutes for Vazquez and Dudley who are both quality bench players. A Bucks rotation of MCW, Vazquez, Middelton, Parker, Dudley, Freak, Henson, Monroe, and one of Ennis, Inglis, Zaza, and Plumlee holding the final warm for Vaughn when he’s ready (after some needed D-League time) is a team of talent, potential, and depth that will definitely need to be taken seriously next year…