Milwaukee Bucks rumors including, Beal, Middleton, Lopez, and more
With the NBA Finals wrapped up and the NBA Draft next week, it’s prime rumor time in the NBA. And the rumors are swirling around the Milwaukee Bucks.
Milwaukee has a plethora of questions to answer this offseason. Will they re-sign Brook Lopez? Will Khris Middleton opt into his player option? If he opts out, will the Bucks bring him back? How will they improve their roster with limited financial resources?
Those questions will be answered in due time. For now, let’s check in on the rumors surrounding Bradley Beal, Middleton, Lopez and a trade involving Milwaukee acquiring a first-round pick in this year’s draft.
There are plenty of rumors swirling around the Milwaukee Bucks involving Bradley Beal, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, trades and more.
Bradley Beal Trade Rumors
The Athletic first reported Milwaukee’s interest in a Bradley Beal trade, citing them as “looming.” ESPN later reiterated the same message, marking them as a front-runner along with the Miami Heat. The report continues to be corroborated by multiple outlets.
That’s very surprising, considering it would be tough for Milwaukee to conduct a trade with the Washington Wizards. Yes, Beal has a no-trade clause and can not only dictate which team he gets traded to, but also have a significant impact on what the team trades for him.
However, the Bucks don’t have suitable assets to send in a deal. For starters, they would need to trade one of Jrue Holiday, Giannis Antetokounmpo or Middleton to make the deal work financially. We know Antetokounmpo is off the table. Would Milwaukee ship one of their other stars? If so, why would the Wizards take back a player on the wrong side of 30 as the primary return of a trade meant to spark an overhaul of their roster? It would likely take the involvement of a third team to facilitate such a deal.
Bucks Plan To Bring Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez Back
That brings us to another issue in any Beal trade. According to Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer, “By all accounts, (Milwaukee) has plans to bring back both Middleton and Brook Lopez.”
He snuck that little nugget into his article about the Beal trade, but it’s hugely noteworthy. I’ve assumed for months that was Milwaukee’s plan. If they let either guy leave, they wouldn’t have the financial ability to replace their production on the free agent market. Sure, they might overpay for their services a bit, but the Bucks don’t have any other options to add talent if they let either or both players leave in free agency.
Acquiring A 2023 First-Round Pick?
Another nugget that flew under the radar with all of the Beal trade hype is that Milwaukee is reportedly looking to acquire a pick in the late 20s and 30s in this year’s draft. According to The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie, “Sources across the league have said Milwaukee, Phoenix and Cleveland have explored potential opportunities to move up into the late 20s and 30s due to the depth of prospects on the wing and potential NBA-ready, older rotation players. Everyone explores deals this time of year, and you could probably write this sentence about any team. But those three do seem to be teams to watch.”
Milwaukee already has MarJon Beauchamp, who could turn into a rotational player on the wing, and it looks like they want to add another young player to that rotation.
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It will be interesting to see how they make such a deal. In the next six years, their only tradeable picks are the 58th selection in this year’s draft, Portland’s 2024 second-round pick, a 2027 second-rounder and a 2029 first. This year’s first goes to the Los Angeles Clippers, the New Orleans Pelicans can swap 2024 and 2026 firsts, while their 2025 and 2027 firsts get sent to the Pelicans outright.