Well, it seems like the Milwaukee Bucks aren’t just going to let Giannis Antetokounmpo go away without putting up a fight first, as they recently completed a couple of major moves to significantly improve their starting roster.
First, they traded Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, and multiple picks to the New Orleans Pelicans for Jrue Holiday, and later they completed a sign-and-deal with the Sacramento Kings to land Bogdan Bogdanovic and Justin James in return for Donte DiVincenzo, Ersan Ilyasova, and DJ Wilson, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski:
Kings will also send Justin James to the Bucks in the deal, per sources.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 17, 2020
Woj went on to add that the Milwaukee Bucks’ executives are trying to fulfill the promise they made to Giannis Antetokounmpo during the offseason and that it’s likely that The Greek Freak has already committed to signing that supermax contract extension with them:
Bucks GM Jon Horst has reshaped his roster late Monday night, acquiring Jrue Holiday and Bogdan Bogdanovic. Giannis wanted to see some significant upgrades and it appears the franchise has delivered for him. Huge night for that franchise. Kings get Divincenzo, a real asset.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 17, 2020
The Milwaukee Bucks, however, now have a revamped roster and one of the strongest starting fives in the league, featuring Jrue Holiday, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Khris Middleton, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Brook Lopez.}
However, besides that, their roster is pretty thin and they don’t have any cap space or draft assets to continue strengthening their team. But if trading away that many players and first-round picks (plus pick-swaps) is enough to keep Giannis on board for the long run with them, then it’ll all be worth it. Now, they must put the cherry on top of the sundae by finally winning the second NBA Championship in franchise history.
That’s, of course, assuming that Bogdan agrees to be dealt to the Bucks, as a recent report states that the Kings actually traded him without his consent, which is illegal considering he’s poised to become a free agent. According to the report, the trade is now in peril as Bogdan could simply back down from it.
Rival NBA executives were PISSED about this deal and felt like the Bucks should be punished since teams can’t agree to deals with free agents yet. Could this be Milwaukee trying to avoid a tampering penalty?
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) November 18, 2020
Also, Adrian Wojnarowski reported that he now plans to enter restricted free agency and pursue a different offer, which would be a disaster for the Bucks.
The Kings and Milwaukee Bucks had hoped to bring Bogdanovic the framework of a sign-and-trade to negotiate a Bodanovic contract with Milwaukee on Friday, but he will move into the marketplace to find an offer sheet or seek out other sign-and-trade scenarios, sources said. https://t.co/KDlBiLcaBs
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 19, 2020
This will be one of the weirdest stories of the offseason and the Bucks would have to make a lot of moves to make up for it, assuming it’s all true and Bogdan in fact doesn’t want to play there.
