9 prospects the Milwaukee Bucks could take in the NBA Draft
By Todd Welter
The Milwaukee Bucks’ offseason will be ramping up shortly and it will be a busy one for Bucks’ general manager Jon Horst.
The Bucks have an offseason where they will have to re-sign veterans Bobby Portis and Pat Connaughton if they opt out of their deals–which is highly likely to happen.
Horst also has to find ways to add players to take back the Eastern Conference from the Boston Celtics. One avenue he will be using to accomplish that is with the 24th pick in the NBA Draft on June 23rd.
It will be a pick that Horst needs to come away with at least an NBA rotation-caliber player. The main reason is the Milwaukee Bucks are limited on how they will be able to upgrade the roster given their salary cap situation.
Plus, the Milwaukee Bucks only have one player currently under contract who is under the age of 25. That is Sandro Mamukelashvili, who is currently on a two-way contract with the Bucks. Adding a younger player to the rotation would go a long way toward the Bucks’ long-term future success.
Finally, the Bucks will not have a first-round pick–unless they acquire one in a trade–until 2028. It would be nice to make the most of this final chance at a first-rounder for the next six seasons.
The Milwaukee Bucks have four main needs heading into this offseason.
Assuming the Bucks can re-sign Portis and Connaughton, the Bucks have the following needs:
- A backup point guard after George Hill’s play declined and Jevon Carter is set to be a free agent.
- Better scoring depth backing up Khris Middleton.
- Another three-and-D player in the rotation especially if the Bucks move on from or want an upgrade over veteran Wesley Matthews.
- A young big man to eventually replace Brook Lopez in the rotation. Lopez is in the final year of his deal and will be 35 at the end of the 2022-2023 season.
The Milwaukee Bucks should be able to address some of these needs through free agency. They can use their $6.4 million Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception to get a veteran scorer off the bench or a three-and-D player wanting a ring. They can even use that to get a backup point guard.
A first-round pick who can come in help either right away or down the road in one of these four areas would be a big boost to this team’s future success of winning another title.
They will have some options in these areas according to most mock drafts.