4 Bucks Who Won't Survive the 2025 Trade Deadline

4. Khris Middleton, Small Forward

This one is hard to swallow for Bucks fans. Khris Middleton has long been a fan favorite, thanks to his clutch heroics and playoff performances. He was a major contributor in the 2021 championship run.

Except for a few flashes here and there, however, he has been a shell of himself ever since. In the 2024 playoffs, he showed that he can still be a high-level scorer and contributor but those instances have been too few and far between.

So far this season, Middleton has played 22 games, averaging 23.1 minutes of action. He is still putting up 12.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game on 50.2/38.3/84.1 shooting splits.

Even though that is nothing to scoff at, the Bucks need him to do more. At this stage of his career, Middleton has been reduced to a bench role and can't play too many games or minutes. For a player making $31.6 million this season and has a player option for $34 million for next, that is not enough production.

Especially considering the financial cliff the Bucks are headed towards, it's hard for them to justify paying Middleton that salary. They need to turn that salary slot into a more reliable contributor.

Plus, Middleton's salary is the only way the Bucks can trade for a star. The complicating matter is that the rest of the league will likely treat Middleton as a negative-value salary. So, the Bucks will need to include young players or draft capital to sweeten the deal.

Whether Milwaukee will be able to find the right deal to offload Middleton's contract while also getting better on the court remains to be seen but GM Jon Horst is certainly trying.

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