The Bucks have started making calls around the league to get help for Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, according to Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Milwaukee defeated Utah Thursday night to improve to 2-6 and slow down its early-season tailspin, but there’s still a sense that the team needs a roster shakeup to become competitive.
Despite increasing speculation that Antetokounmpo might be made available, a potential deal involving the 29-year-old superstar is currently unrealistic for both him and the team, sources tell Windhorst. He confirms that several teams have contacted the Bucks in recent months to let them know that they’re willing to make an offer if Giannis ever becomes available. However, Windhorst adds that those are “incoming calls, not outgoing,” and that’s unlikely to change soon.
Milwaukee faces difficulty in making any deal because it’s operating under second apron restrictions, which prevent the team from aggregating salaries or taking back more salary than it sends out in a trade. Bontemps points out that the hard caps imposed at both the first and second aprons are making in-season trades more challenging around the league.
“The second apron coming in now really hamstrings them,” a rival general manager told Windhorst. “They’re doing due diligence trying to find options, but of course they know it.”
The Bucks would have a long road toward rebuilding if they ever part with Antetokounmpo because they’ve given up most of their draft assets for the rest of the decade, Windhorst notes. Milwaukee doesn’t control its next six first-round picks, so there’s added incentive to find a way to make the Antetokounmpo-Lillard pairing work.
There’s more from Milwaukee:
- The Bucks are counting on a boost from the return of Khris Middleton, who participated in a three-on-three scrimmage Thursday for the first time since having offseason surgery on both ankles, writes Jamal Collier of ESPN. The team is hoping he can advance to five-on-five soon, clearing the way for him to return to action. Collier points out that Antetokounmpo, Lillard and Middleton had a plus-17.5 net efficiency rating last season, which ranked second among NBA trios with at least 600 minutes together. However, they were all in the lineup for just five games after the All-Star break. “I haven’t coached him much at all,” said Doc Rivers, who took over the team in late January. “I had him in the playoffs, but other than that, not a lot of games. But I know he can play. I know how good he is, but right now that’s not the focus for me. I’m more focused on what we have and who’s playing right now.”
- The Bucks were able to add three veterans on minimum-salary contracts over the summer, but they’ve mostly been disappointing so far, Collier adds. Taurean Prince has provided an outside shooting threat, connecting at 55% from beyond the arc, but Gary Trent Jr. is shooting a career-worst 23% from three-point range and Delon Wright has 15 total points in seven games.
- Rivers expressed confidence in Trent after replacing him with Andre Jackson Jr. in the starting lineup for Thursday’s game, per Jim Owczarski of The Journal-Sentinel. “I think eventually Gary will work his way back,” Rivers said. “Just trying to give him room to breathe and get out of his little thing. Because I know he will.”
The bucks don’t have to do anything with Giannis. He is under contract for a while. They have time to fix the roster. Maybe start by firing Doc. He is a terrible in game coach
The problem is, they have no resources to use to fix the roster. As the article says, second apron restrictions, no draft picks to trade. All they can do is exchange players they have for other players, and you can’t do much to improve a roster that way.
It’s the same old worn out story with Bucks. Injuries and not being prepared for them.
In NY tonight. Knicks need a win bad. Also having their issues. Don’t see Bucks winning.
When you are a contender. And picking at bottom of draft. You can’t miss on picks. Bucks have missed on picks. Have to get healthy. This could be last yr for this group.
6 first round picks? They really sold their souls for a title.
Rockets have 6 Firsts
Warriors can take Middleton contract
Kuninga, Moody, Pod, Wiggins and expiring contracts
That would be insane. Middleton isn’t even close to being worth what those guys are worth to the WARRIORS right now. plus, he’s 33 years old, so they’d be trading away their future, too.
Poor trade for the GSW.
What is the net rating for just Giannis and Lillard (no Middleton?)
+4.0 Points per 100 possessions this season. +10.0 Points per 100 possessions last season.
So it’s accurate to say the problem is not any of the 3? Just that the supporting cast is a huge black hole?
More or less. Prince is especially bad. They need Middleton back so they can sit him instead of getting torched, at least as much as they need Middleton back for Middleton.
Of course since Darvin Ham has a one-sided love affair with Prince, he’ll likely be sticking around.
Portis has also been weirdly awful. Most of the bad 2 and 3 man lineups have him involved.
Can someone describe what “not aggregating salaries” means? What is allowed and what is not?
Aggregating salaries is having more than one player’s salary add up to a total amount. If you’re not able to do that, you have to trade players one at a time and find exact matches.
They CAN send out multiple players in the same trade, but CAN’T combine those players’ salaries to match a larger salary.
For instance, if they were to trade Connaughton ($9.24MM) and Beauchamp ($2.73MM), they wouldn’t be able to take back a player earning $10MM due to the rules prohibiting aggregation (combining those two outgoing salaries) and taking back more than they send out (they couldn’t use Connaughton’s $9.24MM on its own to take back $10MM).
Thanks. Can they trade say Pat and Marjon (total about 12) for a n 11 million player and a 1 million player?
If not this seems way to restrictive.
Nope, that would still be aggregating them. They could trade the two of them for, say, a $9MM player and a $2.5MM player. But there’s basically no way for the Bucks to acquire a player earning more than the highest-paid player they send out unless they can get below the second apron.
Thanks, this seems totally too restrictive.
Paying out insane money far in advance to both Big G and Dame has chocked the Bucks right out of the market for the rest of the decade.
The first of many examples forthcoming.
Please no Giannis going to warriors rumors since they do not have the assets to make it happen.
MIL is the modern excuse for a contending team. They’re not even a real team. They just have a core group of name players who have enough individual talent that, under different circumstances, they could be the core group of a contending team. The rest of the roster reflects the league’s uber shallow talent base and the CBA’s rules designed to keep them from getting at any part of it (other than the oldest and most ill-fitting and uninterested parts of it). MIL is not alone, and will have even more company in a few years if the NBA doesn’t rethink it’s priorities. It’s a shame because they built a nice team at one point. Now, it seems, they’re destined to keep churning out a lesser and lesser version of that team each season, while hoping for a miracle. They happen I guess, but not on demand.
The Bucks emptied their cupboard of all assets to get Dame,. They either have to win with what they’ve got or trade it all away and start rebuilding. They could trade Giannis, Dame, Khris, Lopez, Portis, and restock with draft picks, maybe some promising young players. But they have no assets with which to make a net improvement in their current roster.
Who owns the first round picks of the Bucks? Could there be a way that the Bucks get their first round picks back when trading away Antetokounmpo?