Playing scared won't get you where you want to be in the modern NBA, as the Milwaukee Bucks learned the hard way this season. Subtly retooling with role players around Giannis Antetokounmpo wasn't enough to make them a title team when he was on the court, and certainly exposed the team's lack of cohesion when he was off it.
So if they're going to retool around Giannis and become a title contender once again, the Bucks need to give him some running mates, and this trade recently proposed by Dalton Sell of Behind the Bucks Pass is the clearest pathway I've seen to putting Milwaukee back into title contention — the exact selling point they need to secure Giannis' future in the Brew City.
Milwaukee Bucks' biggest swing yet will require major sacrifices.
If you thought the future was unclear in Milwaukee now, wait until you see how little trade flexibility they have after pulling off this masterpiece. But this is absolutely, positively, the right type of swing to take if you're trying to contend for a title. This would give Milwaukee not only a running-mate for Giannis, but the perfect third option who doesn't need the ball in his hands all the time to make an impact.
Trey Murphy III is one of the most coveted players on the trade market this summer because he has the three main attributes every team needs: great shooting, strong defense, and positional versatility. The 25-year-old forward showed the Bucks just how much he's capable of when he sank 12 threes en route to 44 points in Milwaukee near the home stretch of the regular season.
As for Morant, there has never been a more opportune time to trade for a 26-year-old guard with All-NBA credentials entering his prime. Yes, his off-court antics have tanked his trade value as the Grizzlies have been publicly shopping him since the trade deadline in February, but that doesn't mean he isn't an extraordinary talent with playmaking and slashing at the highest level in basketball.
If general manager Jon Horst and Bucks ownership decide that the Giannis era in Milwaukee can't end so abruptly, there is no better swing to take than bringing these two elite talents to the Cream City. The hurdle, however, is in the trade itself, where the Bucks are effectively wiping the slate on last year's team and moving toward a younger, more uptempo style of play.
Although the Trae Young deal set a unique precedent, it's hard to imagine the Grizzlies trading Morant without getting a first-round pick or a blue-chip young player in return, and they might need a sweetener in the deal to take on both Portis' and Kuzma's deals.
Nonetheless, the framework does make sense on paper and could give the Milwaukee Bucks the out they've been looking for. It might be hard to say goodbye to some players they invested heavily in, and letting go of those first-round picks would be the most difficult part, but this is the type of trade that advances Milwaukee's future in a meaningful way during a time when there are so few avenues back to the level of contention Giannis and the front office strive for every season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google