The NBA has been exploring the idea of expanding into Seattle and Las Vegas for the better part of a decade, and Commissioner Adam Silver recently acknowledged that bidding and proposals are ongoing for franchises in both cities. There's no guarantee the league will expand, but it appears to be trending in that direction, which means teams are gearing up for a potential NBA expansion draft, which is extremely complicated for some franchises but less so for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Before we get to that, you might be asking yourself, 'What is an expansion draft?' When new teams are added to a league, their players have to come from somewhere! So each of the existing teams decides which players to protect from the draft, while the remaining players enter a draft pool for the two new teams to select from.
As the Milwaukee Bucks embark on a new era, their priorities are obvious: maximize the young talent on the roster, develop them in a refined culture, and grow another winning product, effectively resetting the cycle they last embarked on when they drafted Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker back in the early-to-mid 2010s.
Since the Bucks are this early in their cycle, it's pretty easy to look at this roster and the cap sheet to decide who would make the cut and who wouldn't, which gives us plenty to learn about where Milwaukee's roster is headed from here.
The Milwaukee Bucks' protections for an NBA Expansion Draft are almost as clear as they could get.
Just by looking at the roster, contracts, and ages of the players in the mix, Milwaukee's first seven protections are evident simply based on the talent, age, and potential growth of the following players:
1. Brayden Burries
2. Nate Ament
3. Ryan Rollins
4. Tyler Herro
5. Kel'el Ware
6. Ousmane Dieng
7. Jaime Jaquez Jr.
These are young, talented players who the Bucks have some measure of cost control over and who they're trying to build around for years to come. Meanwhile, that eighth protected spot would likely go to second-year standout guard and Bucks newcomer Kasparas Jakučionis, although they could consider keeping AJ Green or Kevin Porter Jr. in his place.
The first players who get let go in scenarios like this are veterans on hefty contracts, like Myles Turner, Kyle Kuzma, or Gary Trent Jr., each of whom could very well get salary dumped in a trade over the next few years regardless. Losing Porter, Jericho Sims, Green, or Nance could hurt because of the time spent developing their skills to the point they've reached today, but they don't have that same growth trajectory as the other eight players on the list.
Coincidentally, this same exercise was completed by Bleacher Report for all 30 teams, and writer Dan Favale came to the same conclusions I did as to who would be protected and who wouldn't. This is largely because the Bucks' priorities are clear in a way that other teams' are not.
While they appreciate veterans and will certainly roll them out for significant roles in the season ahead, the Bucks don't need vets right now — they need young players who can develop into franchise cornerstone-type players, and they're not going to find that in players who are 30+ or have clear weaknesses on the basketball court.
As we learned this summer, a roster can change very quickly in the NBA, so we have no idea what the team will look like by the time the league is even ready for an Expansion Draft. But if things keep trending in this direction, the Bucks shouldn't have a very difficult time deciding who deserves to stick at the top of their roster when the time comes.
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