The 2018-19 NBA season was kind to the Milwaukee Bucks, with Giannis Antetokounmpo and company accumulating the league’s best record and exceeding any rational expectation. While things didn’t end all that well for the Bucks in the NBA Playoffs, the future is undoubtedly bright in Milwaukee, even if the team’s best operating practice might be to “bring the band back” and attempt to improve with internal growth.
To that end, the Bucks have interesting free agent decisions to make with regard to Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, Malcolm Brogdon and Nikola Mirotic, leaving some potential salary cap concerns for a small-market franchise. Milwaukee’s salary bill would be quite lofty if the team ponied up for big-time deals for their returning players and, in order to make way, both from a salary cap and pure financial standpoint, the Bucks are reportedly looking to shed the contracts of Tony Snell and/or Ersan Ilyasova.
Marc Stein of the New York Times brings word that Milwaukee could aim to attach draft capital to either contract in order to make things more palatable, much in the way that the Brooklyn Nets executed with Allen Crabbe earlier in June.
https://twitter.com/TheSteinLine/status/1140692815061688320
Technically, the Bucks could retain most of their high-profile free agents without cutting costs elsewhere but, with the luxury tax looming it appears that Milwaukee may want to be at least reasonably prudent.
Snell is a particularly interesting case in that he fell out of favor during the 2018-19 season and the veteran wing is owed almost $24 million over the next two seasons. It’s worth noting that Snell’s contract for 2020-21 is a player option at $12.3 million but, from Milwaukee’s standpoint, assuming that he will opt in to that deal is reasonable, and a team acquiring him would likely see that as negative salary.
Ilyasova’s lesser contract hit of $7 million could be easier to move in some respects but, on the flip side, virtually every team in the NBA is need of a potential two-way wing (Snell), with fewer needing what Ilyasova can provide. The veteran is well-known for taking charges defensively and he spaces the floor on the other end but, at the highest levels of the playoffs, Milwaukee ran into road blocks when attempting to deploy him.
It remains to be seen as to how much urgency the Bucks will show in attempting to shed either Snell or Ilyasova but teams like the Atlanta Hawks (who already took on Crabbe) might be willing to jump in when prompted by enough draft compensation. For now, this reporting signals that Milwaukee might be gathering resources to make a run at keeping everyone and, while that would be good for their chances at competing for the 2020 title, the financial ramifications are interesting to monitor.
