On November 17th, around the start of the 2020 NBA offseason, the Milwaukee Bucks tried to acquire Bogdan Bogdanovic from the Sacramento Kings via a sign and trade. The deal, first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, would have sent Donte DiVincenzo, Ersan Ilyasova, and D.J. Wilson to Sacramento in exchange for the third-year guard.
This trade was not long for this world or really possible in this world, Bogdan Bogdanovic was slated to be a restricted free agent. Negotiations for free agency were not permitted until November 20th, 3 days after the trade was announced.
This mistiming means that the Bucks and Kings front offices were discussing free agency before they were able to, something that breaks NBA rules surrounding free agency. After the basketball world figured out that Bogdanovic was a free agent, after all, the NBA quickly launched an investigation into the matter.
From that investigation, the NBA has decided to rescind Milwaukee’s 2022 Second-round pick citing the organization’s cooperation throughout the process. A supposed early agreement between Bucks management, Bogdanovic, and his agent was reached before the free agency start date.
The NBA has determined the Milwaukee Bucks violated league rules with timing of Bogdan Bogdanovic transaction and will lose their 2022 second-round draft pick, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 21, 2020
Ultimately, Bogdanovic did not agree to the terms of the deal. The 6’6” sharpshooter was offered $72 million over four years by the Atlanta Hawks. Given that it was a restricted free agency, Sacramento had an opportunity to match Atlanta’s offer but failed to do so.
Bogdanovic was joined this offseason by (successfully sign-and-traded) 11-year small forward Danilo Gallinari. The two played in all four of the Hawks’ preseason games on limited minutes. Atlanta’s season opener against the Chicago Bulls tips off Wednesday, December 23rd.
