4 Bucks Who Won't Survive the 2025 Trade Deadline

The Milwaukee Bucks are 26-20 and in fourth place in the Eastern Conference heading into trade deadline week. Despite another MVP-caliber season by Giannis Antetokounmpo and a bounceback campaign from Damian Lillard, the Bucks are nowhere near where they wanted to be. Even though they won the NBA Cup, they don't look like true championship contenders.

They need to make a few moves to improve their roster ahead of the February 6 deadline. The declines of Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez put too much of a burden on the Giannis-Lillard duo. The Bucks need to add more talent and depth, and in order to do so, they need to part ways with some of the players below. Let's take a look.

1. Pat Connaughton, Shooting Guard

Connaughton has been a longtime contributor to the Bucks. As a prototypical three-and-D wing, he has played an important role in Milwaukee, especially during the title run. His combination of solid positional size, athleticism, above-average shooting, and decent defense are hard to come by in the NBA.

Unfortunately, however, he hasn't been the same player in the last couple of years. His outside shot has abandoned him lately. After making 34.5% of his threes last season, he is at 31.6% this season. For a player who can't do much else offensively except to hit open threes, that is a terrible mark.

At age 32, Connaughton is also a step slower defensively. This decline on both ends of the floor makes him difficult to play and pushed his minutes down to 15 minutes per game in 26 appearances.

Connaughton makes $9.4 million this season and has a player option for the same amount next season. The Bucks simply can't afford to pay that amount for a player they don't get much in return. Using him for salary-matching purposes, the Bucks need to get another shooter to help open things up for the Lillard- Antetokounmpo duo.