The Milwaukee Bucks just pulled off one of the biggest deals of the offseason, as they traded away Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, three first-round picks and two pick-swaps to the New Orleans Pelicans for Jrue Holiday.
More than that, they also completed a sign-and-trade deal with the Sacramento Kings for Bogdan Bogdanovic, trading Donte DiVincenzo, Ersan Ilyasova, and DJ Wilson, meaning their roster is now pretty much depleted.
As a matter of fact, the Milwaukee Bucks currently have just seven players on their roster: Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Justin James, Brook Lopez, and Thanasis Antetokounmpo:
– George Hill: traded to the New Orleans Pelicans
– Donte DiVincenzo, Ersan Ilyasova, and DJ Wilson: traded to the Sacramento Kings
– Wesley Matthews and Robin Lopez: Opted out
– Sterling Brown, Kyle Korver, Pat Connaughton: Free agents
– Marvin Williams: Retired
What’s even more worrying is the fact that the Bucks don’t have much salary cap space to make any kind of signings, yet they still have 8 roster spots to fill, meaning we could see a lot of G-League players getting the call from Mike Budenholzer next season.
The Bucks clearly went all-in in an attempt to convince Giannis Antetokounmpo of staying with the franchise and sign that supermax contract extension. You have to believe that they have already some kind of commitment from him or else they wouldn’t have risked their entire future on Holiday’s expiring deal and Bogdanovic.
Mike Budenholzer is known for using a long rotation and that has often backfired in the playoffs. Now, it seems like he’ll be forced to play his starters big minutes, which would make a lot of sense as they now feature one of the best starting fives in the NBA.
As for the rest of the roster, it’ll be interesting to see how they manage to fill those spots.
