The Milwaukee Bucks are going all in on this upcoming season after yet another disappointing playoff exit. With Giannis Antetokounmpo’s supermax deal looming as the biggest decision in the NBA this offseason, Milwaukee is doing everything it can to ensure he knows they’re committed to building a winner.
Late Monday night, word broke that Milwaukee was sending a haul of three first round picks, two pick swaps, Eric Bledsoe, and George Hill to New Orleans to land star combo guard Jrue Holiday. However, the Bucks weren’t done there, as they reportedly executed a sign-and-trade to bring Bogdan Bogdanovic from the Kings to Milwaukee. The rumblings of that interest was first reported by Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, with Adrian Wojnarowski offering the first report that a deal was indeed done — with Justin James also going to Milwaukee to make the deal work.
Sources: The Bucks will pursue a sign-and-trade for Kings restricted free agent Bogdan Bogdanovic. He'd be another huge addition following the addition of Jrue Holiday. The Hawks will also pursue Bogdanovic, but the Bucks can sell him on competing for a championship with Giannis.
— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) November 17, 2020
The Bucks are trading Donte Divincenzo. Ersan Ilyasova and DJ Wilson in the deal to the Kings, sources said. https://t.co/Vrho6gZQhH
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 17, 2020
The Bucks, who exhausted their draft capital in the Holiday trade, managed to get the Kings on board by sending Ersan Ilyasova’s expiring contract to Sacramento along with Donte DiVincenzo and D.J. Wilson. DiVincenzo is the centerpiece of the deal for Sacramento as he’s emerged as a reliable 3-and-D wing, with Wilson as a stretch big that some believe was underutilized in Milwaukee.
For the Bucks, they add more wing help that they seriously needed and suddenly have a robust starting five of Holiday, Khris Middleton, Bogdanovic, Giannis, and Brook Lopez that they hope can make them the top team in the East and compete with the Lakers and other top teams in the West for a title. Bogdanovic is a terrific shooter, hitting 37.4 percent of his threes on his career (on impressive volume) and is also a capable secondary ball-handler. He will add serious offensive punch as a tertiary option alongside Middleton and Giannis, further spacing the floor and giving them someone who can be a lead option in bench minutes when needed — which is especially important for Milwaukee given Mike Budenholzer’s propensity for keeping his stars’ minutes fairly low.
