The Milwaukee Bucks raised plenty of eyebrows when they drafted Thon Maker 10th overall in the 2016 NBA Draft, banking on the fact that they believed they could help him reach his considerable upside. Less than three years later and it’s possible the relationship between the two sides could come to an end sometime soon.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Maker’s agent, Mike George, has told the Bucks that the 21-year-old big man would like a trade to a place where he would get more playing time. Maker is playing five fewer minutes a game this season under new head coach Mike Budenholzer, averaging 11.7 minutes a night. His playing time has especially fallen off in the last eight games, as he’s seen the floor for 10 minutes or fewer in all of them.
Wojnarowski did report that “there remains strong organizational belief in Maker’s future” among members of the Bucks front office, but per the request, the franchise has spoken with other teams about coming to a potential resolution before the trade deadline on Feb. 7.
Maker is still young enough that it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where a team falls in love and makes a move now that he’s on the market. This season, Maker has appeared in 35 games, all off the bench, averaging 4.7 points and 2.7 rebounds a night.
