25 players Milwaukee Bucks should consider trading for

The Milwaukee Bucks are stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to improving their roster this offseason. On the one hand, they have limited financial resources to sign an outside free agent. On the other, they just lost in the first round of the playoffs and need to inject some fresh talent into the roster. Perhaps a trade will suffice?

It seems unlikely that Milwaukee will be able to acquire a high-impact player through free agency. Even if everything goes to plan with re-signing Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez and others, they’ll have a maximum of $5 million to sign an outside free agent via the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception.

General manager Jon Horst is always active on the trade lines. He does his due diligence on every available player, including being in the conversation for Bradley Beal earlier this summer. He’s undoubtedly been working to find a way to upgrade his team.

To enhance their roster,  here are 25 players the Milwaukee Bucks should consider trading for this offseason.

I scoured the roster of the other 29 NBA teams to find any potential trade candidate Milwaukee might be interested in, and I found 25 of them. That’s the easy part, as I neglected the more difficult task where you have to propose a deal. Since my scope for this assignment was narrow, I wanted to clarify the rules of this exercise.

Rules:

• The trade candidate has to have a salary that the Bucks could reasonably match. I didn’t pick guys making $20+ million a year because that means Milwaukee would have to trade one of their big three.
• I didn’t delve into how Milwaukee would acquire the players or if the player is actually available in a trade, only who the Bucks might be interested in.
• I sorted them into buckets based on the type of player they are or the skillset they bring to the table.

Ball handlers/shot creators

The Bucks need to add another ball handler or shot creator to their roster. Under Mike Budenholzer, they relied upon Jrue Holiday, Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo to carry that burden. However, all three of them would benefit from adding a true point guard or another person who can share those responsibilities.

Monte Morris, Point, Washington Wizards, $9.8 million

Delon Wright, Combo, Washington Wizards, $8.1 million

Alec Burks, Wing, Detroit Pistons, $10.4 million

Cameron Payne, Point, Phoenix Suns, $6.5 million

Slashers

If the NBA Draft is any indication, the Bucks will be looking to add more slashers to their roster, instead of relying solely upon outside shooters to space the floor. That’s a big change from the Budenholzer era, and they’ll have to adjust accordingly.

T.J. McConnell, Point, Indiana Pacers, $8.7 million

Bol Bol, Big, Orlando Magic, $2.2 million

Brandon Clarke, Big, Memphis Grizzlies, $12.5 million

Gary Payton, Wing, Golden State Warriors, $8.7 million

Jarred Vanderbilt, Big, Los Angeles Lakers, $4.6 million

Kyle Anderson, Forward, Minnesota Timberwolves, $9.2 million

Larry Nance Jr., Big, New Orleans Pelicans, $10.3 million

Floor-spacers

Despite the increased attraction to slashers, shooting is still the name of the game. Not all of these players hit threes at a high rate, but their roles on previous teams has been to stay out of the way and chill around the three-point line.

Dorian Finney-Smith, Forward/Big, Brooklyn Nets, $9.5 million

Dorian Finney-Smith, Forward/Big, Brooklyn Nets, $13.9 million

Patty Mills, Point, Brooklyn Nets, $6.8 million

Cedi Osman, Forward, Cleveland Cavaliers, $6.7 million

Caleb Martin, Forward, Miami Heat, $6.8 million

Chris Boucher, Big, Toronto Raptors, $11.7 million

Alex Caruso, Combo, Chicago Bulls, $9.4 million

Jalen Smith, Big, Indiana Pacers, $5 million

Gary Harris, Wing, Orlando Magic, $13 million

Luke Kennard, Combo, Memphis Grizzlies, $14.7 million

John Konchar, Wing, Memphis Grizzlies, $2.4 million

Mo Bamba, Big, Los Angeles Lakers, $10.3 million

Reggie Bullock, Forward, Dallas Mavericks, $10.4 million

Kelly Olynk, Big, Utah Jazz, $12.1 million