Bucks Named Trade Landing Spot for Top Defensive Guard

Milwaukee has been rumored to be considering tons of moves this offseason, including Bobby Portis or Pat Connaughton. 

One of those moves could include landing a former NBA Defensive Player of the Year, as Bleacher Report has Marcus Smart listed as a likely addition via the trade market. 

Smart Could Rejuvenate Career in Milwaukee

Smart was a guard many teams would have liked to have in his days playing for the Celtics.

He won the DPOY award for the 2021-22 season and averaged 11.5+ points and 4.9+ assists per game for four straight seasons before leaving Boston. 

And his stats weren’t bad last season either – averaging 14.5 points, 4.3 assists and 2.1 steals per game – but he became largely forgotten as he played in just 20 games due to a finger injury on a woeful Grizzlies team. 

Smart could make a big difference for a Bucks team that was 25th in the NBA in steals + blocks per game last season. 

And he wouldn’t have much competition coming off the bench.

Freshly drafted 2024 First Round pick AJ Johnson likely isn’t ready to make a big contribution. The 6-foot-4, 167-pound guard averaged just 2.8 points in 7.9 minutes per game for the Illawarra Hawks last season. 

That leaves Patrick Beverley, who is unlikely to return after an embarrassing finish to last season, and AJ Green, who averaged 4.5 points in 11.5 minutes per game last season.

And it's hard to see a world in which Smart isn't over-the-moon to be competing on a contending team again, especially after he had to watch his former team win the NBA Finals earlier this month.

The fit makes sense for both parties and would be the best move Milwaukee has made so far this offseason (no offense to Johnson).

Keeping Smart doesn't make much sense for Memphis, either. The Grizzlies aren't close to competing and would be better suited to trade Smart, a 30-year-old guard making $20 million per year, in an attempt to continute rebuilding.

More Milwaukee Bucks Team News: