UPDATE: This deal has fallen apart. Read the details here.
The Bucks will acquire restricted free agent swingman Bogdan Bogdanovic from the Kings in a sign-and-trade deal once free agency opens, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Sources tell Wojnarowski that Milwaukee will send Donte DiVincenzo, D.J. Wilson, and Ersan Ilyasova to Sacramento in the deal, while the Bucks will also receive forward Justin James from the Kings (Twitter links).
Multiple reports in recent weeks indicated that the Bucks had interest in Bogdanovic and would pursue him in a sign-and-trade scenario. Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer reiterated that interest tonight in the wake of Milwaukee’s agreement to acquire Jrue Holiday, tweeting that Bogdanovic was also being eyed by the Hawks.
Still, even in the wake of O’Connor’s report, we didn’t expect to learn so early in the week that the Kings and Bucks have already reached an agreement. Since Bogdanovic will technically be a free agent, he and Milwaukee aren’t supposed to have any contact until Friday, so the NBA likely won’t be thrilled that news of this deal has already leaked.
Bogdanovic enjoyed arguably the best season of his three-year NBA career in 2019/20, averaging 15.1 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 3.4 APG on .440/.372/.741 shooting in 61 contests (29.0 MPG). He earned a promotion to the starting lineup in January, displacing Buddy Hield, and helped lead the Kings to a 16-12 record during his 28 games as a starter.
Re-signing Bogdanovic was believed to be a priority for the Kings, so it’s a little surprising that the team is prepared to move him in a sign-and-trade deal. However, former general manager Vlade Divac seemed more committed to the 28-year-old Serbian than new GM Monte McNair.
The Kings’ willingness to move on from Bogdanovic is good news for the Bucks, who have reshaped their lineup with this move and the acquisition of Holiday, putting themselves in a great position to sell Giannis Antetokounmpo on signing a five-year, super-max contract extension this fall.
As for the Kings, they’re likely not viewing Ilyasova’s expiring $7MM contract as a major asset, and Wilson is coming off a disappointing third season. DiVincenzo is the headliner of their package, having averaged 9.2 PPG and 4.8 RPG on .455/.336/.733 in 66 games (23.0 MPG) last year for Milwaukee. He’s a strong perimeter defender who – at age 23 – still has plenty of room to improve and is under contract for two more years before reaching restricted free agency.
It’s not yet clear what Bogdanovic’s new contract with the Bucks will look like, but the deal must span at least three seasons, with a guaranteed first year. Based on Milwaukee’s outgoing salary, he could receive a starting salary of up to approximately $18MM, assuming Ilyasova’s salary becomes guaranteed. However, the Bucks will have to be conscious of the hard cap — as a result of acquiring a player via sign-and-trade, they’ll be unable to surpass a team salary of $138,928,000 in 2020/21.
The base year compensation rule will also apply to Bogdanovic’s new deal and will complicate salary-matching to some extent, though the inclusion of James should prevent it from becoming an issue for Sacramento.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Kings fan here….. WOW!!!!
I called it
Now, that was a solid acquisition…
Milwaukee may not have had direct contact with him, It could be explained that they gave terms to Sacramento’s GM and the GM just passed along the knowledge. In my opinion it is no worse than players under contract with one team recruiting other players under contract somewhere else or free agents which happens ALL the time.
with limited time to do these transactions, nba needs to back off behind the scenes shenanigans for now.
Buddy Hield approves of this trade.
Buddy promised to play defense next year
Doc Rivers will be thrilled!
Heat , warriors , mavs , raptors think you can plan your offseasons with the assumption Giannis is off the table! Should make for a more interesting off season to see what those teams next plan is , (it’s not ad either ) , perhaps they start stalking the Kawhi situation
Jrue Holiday and Bogdan Bogdanovic are decent players but hardly good enough to guarantee Giannis will stay.
C-daddy, I beg to differ. Giannis needs shooters around him and that is exactly what holiday and Bogdonovic bring. AND Giannis still gets to be THE guy. Plus,they aren’t just shooters. Bogdonovic could be a borderline all star and jrue holiday has been one. Let’s not pretend we are talking matt carroll
It’s not that it’s that there’s a good chance Giannis signs the super max before the season before he even finds out if the bucks have enough! He’s probably excited about these moves and woj,and Stein seem to believe he will extend
ehhhhh i like the acquisitions but they gave up a lot of picks for a guy who’s been an all star 1 time
they def improved and maybe giannis signs idk. but to me i dont look at this as a slam dunk
When Giannis signs that Max deal. Then he’s off the table. Until then Mimi should be trying to get Beal and simply wait for Giannis next year. Riley is a patient killer.
His other rumoured free agent destinations (Heat, Raptors, Mavs, etc.) are still more desirable.
None of those teams were going to trade for giannis this year, that was always the talking heads dreaming. Fans are excited about his impending free agency, which is when a sign and trade with limited assets or he straight walks is happening. You can it’s going to happen based on the moves milwaukee is making now. Going all in before the rebuild starts.
Weak package, surprised lakers didn’t try for this with kuzma plus expiring contracts….
This being said bucks have a nasty roster
Holiday
Bogi
Middleton
Giannis
Lopez
Nice but not nasty.
4 guys that can score at will. Nasty, not bad on defense either.
Brook Lopez can “score at will”
Who knew?
No, Lopez would be the fifth guy …
Bropez averaged around 20PPG for many, many years in BRK dude, he is a very good scorer, just not needed in MIL!
Exactly. Plays good D, stretches the floor and if needed can still play in the post & all that for reasonable money. Hard to get anybody better in this pice range.
Nasty on defense for sure.
I guess they will go for Harden now. You still around lol.
Bucks just upgraded in talent and chemistry. This to the best team in East. Bogdanovic is a great pickup for Giannis. Got him cheap too.
Probably didn’t want to be hard-capped with a sign and trade.
WTF? DiVincenzo is all they got for him?? Why didn’t Mavs offer their pick in the draft? This is a clear win for the Bucks. Executive of the year moves by bucks GM today
It depends on where Bogdan wants to go.
Great deal for the bucks.
Holiday was very expensive in terms of giving up firsts but this helps make up for it. Hopefully not to expensive, Kings should cut Illaysova and the Bucks should pay Bogi 15m.
That line up looks really soli but I still think they are very beatable. If Philly gives up Simmons and bits for Harden they would be the best in the east. Celtics look pretty solid I think they could make a deal or two and be right up there.
Celtics should do Gordan Hayward and the 26th pick and a future second for LaMarcus Aldridge and Trey Lyles.
1. Walker. (15th pick)
2. Brown. Smart.
3. Tatum. Langford
4. Aldridge. GWilliams
5. Theis. Lyles
Plus whoever they can get for cheap in FA
Raptors I think will start trending downwards as Lowry gets old but Heat are also on the rise.
Celtics need to make moves, as does Philly. Bucks are really going for it tho
Any deal for Aldridge or miles Turner would be to take Theis out of the starting lineup… Aldridge/Turner, Tatum, Brown, Smart, walker would be the starting 5… and then Langford, grant Williams, Robert Williams, semi ojeleye etc.
As a celtics fan, I’d love to see them do this. Moving smart into the starting lineup helps shield walker being undersized. And if they acquired Kris Dunn, he could take the smart defense role off the bench while adding a solid distributor. Add a bench guard that can score, sign one more bench guy and off to the raises.
123redsox that team you just mentioned isn’t a finals roster, it’s too one dimensional. Kemba got exposed badly in the series against heat….
I’d disagree trade Hayward for Aldridge not to take Theis spot in the rotation and promote smart.
It would be to move Brown into his preferred position and Tatum into his preferred position. Aldridge and Theis plus some of the younger guys probably play all the minutes at the 5 but I’d start Aldridge with Theis most nights.
Aldridge even at 35 would be a great pick up, he’s learnt to space the floor and do it effectively, his block numbers were at a career best last year too. He would be a great mentor for young Grant Williams and adds a new dimension to this team with his size.
Think a large part in deciding the line up would be dependent on who your playing. For example against the taller Sixers who aren’t great shooters you’d probably want Theis and Aldridge to just fill up the lane more defensively.
This trade somewhat eases the sting of giving up all those picks for Holiday.
The KINGS should sue the BUCKS ……… or was it Buddy Hield who pretended to be KINGS GM.
I’m still waiting for the ‘hold-my-beer’ trade moves by Pat Riley.
Lopez and Mattews opt out save 8M
Bucks team salary 124M for 7 players
MLE 6M
2 Vet Mins 5M
2 seconds (or undrafted) 2M
2 Two Way players 1m
Total 138M – Hard capped
Milwaukee is going to need to do a lot more after these moves b/c you could argue they’re moving a lot of pieces/assets to arguably be not as good, as of now.
Milwaukee will be like other strong starting five teams…. No bench.
Which would be an argument you’d lose because depth got them nowhere the past two postseasons because they didn’t have enough high end talent. Now their starters are all among the top 75 players in the NBA, has one (should have been two) All-NBA players, and includes three recent All-Defensive players. Oh, also a back-to-back MVP.
Good point.
Jrue and Bogdanovic seems like a clear upgrade from Bledsoe and DiVincenzo…
I thought Hield would be the one they moved.
Tough to move buddy hield. Big contract, questionable attitude, one-dimensional.
So does this mean the Bucks aren’t trading Giannis to the Heat?
They were never trading Giannis to the heat. That was never on the table. Ever. NEVER. The heat were exploring ways to sign Giannis as a free agent NEXT offseason. At least from what I read.
Bucks will be a regular season juggernaut again. The two new players do not have a postseason track record so it remains to be seen how that phase will go. Giannis can wait it out if he wants but that will add to the pressure of winning so could backfire. While Giannis will get paid by someone no matter what happens, it will will be more lucrative to stay in MIL.
Go look at Jrue’s numbers in the 2018 postseason and see if you feel the same way.
Wow. Tremendous upgrades. Not a lot left for the bench. One guy I really like is Frank Mason III. Not sure where he stands contractually but I actually think he could contribute 10-15 minutes per game and be effective.
The off season just started. Miami, Boston, or Brooklyn could still make a HUGE move to keep Giannis out of the finals.
Great pick ups fir the bucks. They did not loose much and the picks will be on the middle of the twenties . Now they need Krover and try to bring Marvin Williams out of retirement. Then try to sign either Chris Dunn , pat mills , or rondo . That will be sold team with good defenders and cam shoot .
It looks like with the hard cap situation they will be able to only sign minimum guys. That eliminates Dunn, and Patty Mills, guys like that.
WOW
Great deal for the Bucks. Not sure it makes up for the Holiday trade (viewed separately), although if GA signs, it’s an excellent offseason.
Horrible trade for the Kings. I really don’t understand why either the Kings or BB agreed to this ahead of the FA period, or how it was done within the rules (Bucks can’t contact BB). Did BB test the market? Why not? Kings may have feared a team with cap space might sign BB to an offer sheet, but what’s BB’s motivation?
Getting Holiday and Bogdan is nice but dang the Bucks got rid of all their depth. I understand why though.
Wow I don’t get Kings. Seemed like the Buddy relationship was not going well. And now you will keep him ? Or will they trade him too. I mean they didn’t get enough for Bogdanovic. DeVin is a rotation player. Bogdanovic can be an all star. I can’t believe they just gave him away. This is a great move for Bucks. Their chemistry improved 50%. Both new guys are exactly what Team needs. It helps all of them Middleton, Lopez, especially Giannis. Bucks did it with depth behind Giannis as a team. Now they are not dependent on Giannis offensively. This is a much balanced team. Therefore makes Giannis more deadly. Didn’t see this coming. Always thought Buddy would be traded not Bogdanovic. Great great move by Bucks. Fear the Deer year lols .
Anyone who thinks Giannis was leaving thru FA. Just doesn’t follow this game. Makes you a fan. He’s never leaving. He will leave thru a sign and trade only. He will not leave Bucks high and dry. And Bucks will NEVER let him walk for nothing.
How on earth could you say “Their chemistry improved 50%”? Lmao how could you possibly know that. This isn’t a video game
It’s a great move but with holiday and this trade, bucks have given up all their depth.. they may have picked up holiday and bogdonovic but now their bench is wiped out and they are more than likely gonna be hardcapped.. gone Bledsoe, hill, Davicci, Robin Lopez, illasilva, Wesley Matthews, Kyle korver.. whos gonna be in 2nd I it for bucks.. Bledsoe ans holiday defensively are pretty equal just holiday is a better 3pt shooter.. bogdanovic better scorer but not good defensively
I was thinking that too, I said it above, the depth is gone
What has all that depth gotten them in the past two years though? Best record in the regular season and flame out in the playoffs. They had to make some big moves, and they did. They’ll be able to get some ring-chasing vets to fill out the bench.
Any contender can get ring chaser vets.. you rather play for bucks or lakers? That depth helped keep giannis minutes down.. starting five theirs only one basketball.. so once starters rest, teams will destroy their 2nd unit so now the starters will have to play heavy minutes.. you need a bench to be a title team.. I don’t think bucks are better.. they have any injuries they are screwed.. I like bog and holiday but you just added a lot of holes in 2nd unit..
Not depth but scrubs dude!
You know what other team was criticized before 2019–20 for selling the farm and getting rid of all their depth for a star and having to sign older vets? I’ll give you a hint, they just won a ring and are 6/7 of your username.
Kings front office is a joke.. that was a steal by bucks.. they should of kept bogdonovic and got rid of I’m gonna get mine buddy Hield.. this is why this franchise is a joke.. either being cheap or just don’t know how to judge talent