Speaking to Ben Golliver of The Washington Post, Bucks general manager Jon Horst said that he was “pained” by the loss of Malcolm Brogdon this summer. However, Horst insisted that Milwaukee wasn’t forced into doing anything it didn’t want to do with Brogdon, who was a restricted free agent and could’ve been retained rather than sent to the Pacers in a sign-and-trade.
“I don’t feel like we were forced to do anything that we didn’t want to,” Horst said. “We made a trade with Tony Snell that freed us up to match any offers. We have an ownership group that has allowed us to do whatever we need to do [financially]. The decision on Malcolm really came down to what we thought we could get in return. Do we want to pay for what we think his market could be or do we want to see if we could get something that helps us now and going forward?”
On the surface, the Bucks’ decision not to bring back Brogdon does look financially motivated, as the team almost certainly would’ve ended up in luxury-tax territory if it re-signed the RFA guard. Whether or not that was the case, Horst views the trade with the Pacers – which netted multiple draft picks, including a first-rounder – as one that could end up being a win-win deal.
“I don’t think it’s said enough in the NBA that it’s possible for both parties to win,” Horst said. “It’s possible that we could be a better team without Malcolm. It’s possible that he could be a better player in Indiana. It’s possible that we could both do a great trade. Early on, it looks like that.”
Here’s more from around the Central:
- While Brogdon has been the Pacers‘ most productive offseason addition so far, Jeremy Lamb hasn’t been too far behind. J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star explores how the team has benefited from signing Lamb, who has provided scoring, ball-handling, and length.
- The Bulls had their best game of the season on Wednesday as they blew out Atlanta in a performance keyed by Tomas Satoransky, who recorded 27 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds. Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago examines Satoransky’s work on both sides of the ball to show how the veteran guard is proving his value to his new team.
- Second-round rookie Daniel Gafford is anxiously awaiting the opportunity to play regular minutes for the Bulls, as Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times writes. “I’m always at the end of the bench, trying to be the loudest at the end of the bench,” said Gafford, who has logged just six total minutes so far. “I’m always trying to bring energy to the floor for the guys that are out there playing. At the same time, it’s eating me up inside. I just want to be out there to try to do whatever I can to help the team get a win.”
Can’t see loosing Brogdon can be a win, no way, at least not in this world. Milwaukee should aim to pay the lux tax if they wanna keep Giannis, ain’t gonna work on the cheap, that’s for sure.
You got to pay to play.
I thought Brogdon’s injuries probably played into the calculation to trade him. Not surprisingly, at this point Wes Matthews does not seem to be up to task to adequately? Somewhat? Marginally? Replace Brogdon.
They already paid Middleton $35M/year so obviously Giannis will get a supermax deal close to $250M, but he still has one year left on his current deal and they’ll already be over the luxury tax before giving him a new contract in 2021.
Not over the luxury tax, but probably over the cap.
The idea here has to be that the following 4 were all FA: Middleton, Lopez, Brogdon and Hill.
You couldn’t keep all 4, because you only had Bird Rights on Middleton (and RFA for Brogdon) so Lopez and Hill needed to be signed with cap space. The Bucks decided the best option was to keep Middleton, Lopez and Hill and trade Brogdon for assets. That is what makes this a “win”. The alternative wasn’t simply match Brogdon, it was losing either Lopez or Hill (probably Hill)
So if you think of the decision as Brogdon (at that contract) or Hill plus all the picks, then I agree with the Bucks. Bledsoe is crucial for the defense, but if you have Bledsoe as your starting PG you need a competent backup who can shoot. Hill fits that perfectly.