The Milwaukee Bucks are apparently open to some drastic roster changes this offseason.
After trading to acquire All-Star point guard Damian Lillard and hiring head coach Adrian Griffin (then subsequently firing Griffin and replacing him with Doc Rivers midway through the season), the Bucks posted an underwhelming 49-33 record in 2023-24. That was still good enough to capture the third seed in a fairly middling Eastern Conference, outside of the 64-win eventual champion Boston Celtics.
But, much as they had been throughout the regular season, the Bucks were riddled with injuries during the playoffs, too. All-NBA power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo missed all of their six-game first-round matchup with the Indiana Pacers, while Lillard sat out the final two contests of the clash. The Pacers, a No. 6 seed, managed to capitalize on great health throughout the first two rounds of the playoffs and would go on to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Now, per Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, 36-year-old 3-and-D starting Bucks center Brook Lopez could be offloaded this offseason, as the team looks to shore up its depth.
Lopez and another veteran who proved critical to Milwaukee’s 2021 title run, former three-time All-Star swingman Khris Middleton, both inked lucrative new deals to stay with the Bucks during the 2023 offseason. Lopez signed a declining two-season, $48 million contract with the club, and is owed $23 million for the 2024-25, a fairly reasonable rate for an above-average starting center.
Begin your day with a curated outlook of top news around the world and why it matters.
Given the 7-foot-1 Stanford product’s advanced mileage and age, he is understandably a major injury risk. Middleton, though, has been far less reliable, health-wise. Why the Bucks want to get off the deal of a unicorn big man as opposed to an aging wing is a mystery to this — aside from the fact that Lopez is most likely a far more appetizing trade target.
Middleton signed a three-year, $93 million deal with the Bucks last season, and missed promptly 27 games. He never quite looked like himself when he did play.
Lopez, however, played in 79 games (and 78 last year), averaging 12.5 points on .485/.366/.821 shooting splits. He connected on that 36.6 percent three-point mark with 5.1 triple tries a night. The two-time All-Defensive Teamer also notched 5.2 boards, 2.4 blocks and 1.6 assists a night.
Despite ostensibly being in his NBA dotage, Lopez hasn’t shown many signs of on-court slippage. He’d be an intriguing target for any team but makes particular sense for the Miami Heat, who have a major size issue in their frontcourt and may want to consider shifting All-Star big man Bam Adebayo to power forward, while Lopez can function as a floor-spacing center.
Discussion about this post