Milwaukee Bucks: 11 potential trade partners for Eric Bledsoe

Group Three: Big Names

Now that we’ve talked about the options for trading Bledsoe to obtain more assets, we can have some fun with scenarios that net the Milwaukee Bucks an even bigger name. The three big names we’ll be discussing are Jrue Holiday, Chris Paul, and Kemba Walker of the Pelicans, Thunder, and Celtics, respectively.

Jrue Holiday

We’ll start with Holiday who used to be a pure point guard, but has transitioned to more shooting guard and even small forward duties in the past few seasons. If he landed in Milwaukee, he’d be going back to his roots as a playmaker at the point guard position. Holiday packs more of a scoring punch than Bledsoe and can shoot it as well, though the Bucks would be losing out on some defense as Bledsoe is one of the best in the league on that end of the floor.

Holiday may be the most likely option as he has the lowest salary of the three at about $26 million per year. This makes salaries easier to line up and a package of Bledsoe and Hill makes the trade work financially. It will be interesting to see what extra assets the Pelicans would want around Bledsoe, who would be the centerpiece of the Bucks’ package.

Chris Paul

Next, is possibly the most talked-about trade target for the Milwaukee Bucks this offseason, Chris Paul. However, he has an absurd salary of over $38 million for next season, and that only goes up the next two years in his contract.

Not only does this make a trade hard to work out with salary numbers, but it financially handcuffs the Bucks for the next few seasons. It takes Bledsoe, Hill, Robin Lopez, and Donte DiVincenzo, or even Bledsoe and both Lopez twins just to make salaries line up. That’s a big haul, but if Milwaukee wants to go all-in on a bona fide third star, this is their move.

Kemba Walker

Finally, a guy that no one is talking about getting traded, Kemba Walker. Walker’s salary of just over $32 million splits the difference between Holiday’s and Paul’s and he is a great shot creator for himself and his teammates. Walker was just signed to a four-year deal by Boston last offseason, so they probably aren’t looking to move him, but maybe they want a point guard who will take even more of a back seat to their young stars in Tatum and Brown.

If the Bucks give them Bledsoe and some other young assets to add to their already very young core, then that could further increase Boston’s championship window as they look to build around a very young Jason Tatum, and maybe that’s enticing enough for Danny Ainge to listen to. It’s not likely, but Kemba is a perfect fit for this Milwaukee Bucks team and you never know what offers they’ll listen to. Or they’ll hang up immediately, whatever.

So, after all of this what really is the market for a 30-year-old defensive stalwart point guard coming off of two very disappointing playoff performances in a row? I think the most likely scenarios are getting back two solid contributing assets (or one and a pick) or going all in for a big star in a trade that would mortgage the future by trading DiVincenzo, the Bucks’ first-round pick, or both.

None of these options are great, but GM Jon Horst is hard at work trying to figure out if any of them can inch these Milwaukee Bucks closer to holding up the Larry O’Brien trophy at the end of next season.