The Milwaukee Bucks face an offseason in which they face many challenges on how best to rebuild their roster. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard are under contract for the next few seasons and have a enormous portion of their salaries. They are also paying Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez high salaries next season, which also complicates matters. Overall, the Bucks are currently at the other end of the NBA’s salary cap.
This means Milwaukee has severe restrictions on the type of free agents they can sign and who they can acquire via trade. In brief, the Bucks can’t send out more salary than they bring in. Any deal must have appropriate salaries to be approved by the NBA. Any free agent he signs must be on veteran minimum contracts.
Due to these restrictions, if Milwaukee is going to acquire significant talent via trade, they will also have to give up significant talent.
NBA analyst suggests Milwaukee Bucks trade Brook Lopez to Toronto Raptors for Bruce Brown
One of the most realistic Bucks players to be traded this offseason is center Brook Lopez. Lopez, a former NBA champion, turned down a larger contract offer from the Houston Rockets last offseason and re-signed with Milwaukee. While he is still one of the best rim protectors in the league, he is not an all-around defender.
When we think about what the Bucks need this offseason, we’ll probably conclude that they need more guards who can defend multiple positions and shoot three-pointers. This is why Kevin O’Connor z Bell thinks it would be a dream to trade Lopez to the Toronto Raptors for another former NBA champion, Bruce Brown:
“League sources expect the Raptors to pick up Brown’s option this summer and then look to trade him, which is not surprising considering he will be 28 next season and the Raptors are rebuilding. Brown is an extremely versatile defender, a tone-setter, a rebounder and a brash master who can do it all on offense. Every team should want Bruce Brown.
“There are rumors that the Bucks would like to play a more versatile defense next season, which raises the question of whether Brook Lopez has a future there. Trading Brook Lopez for Brown is a perfect salary match, and then the Raptors could move Lopez elsewhere. The amount of showing and cutting Brown could do in support of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard would be great to watch.”
As O’Connor notes, salaries in this industry would be consistent, meaning the NBA would likely approve it. Additionally, since the Raptors will likely flip Lopez again after a potential trade (hopefully not to Boston…), the Bucks won’t have to part with any of their draft picks.
How would Bruce Brown fit into the Milwaukee Bucks?
Brown would be a perfect fit for Milwaukee because he can defend multiple positions and is a relatively reliable three-point shooter. When the Bucks traded Jrue Holiday, they lost the defensive edge he presented to the court. Even though Lillard played much better defense than he was given credit for, and even though Malik Beasley tried, they couldn’t match what they lost in Holiday’s defense.
Brown would allow them to do so and can play point guard, shooting guard or diminutive forward. Last season, split between the Indiana Pacers and Raptors, Brown averaged 10.8 points but shot just 32% from three. With that said, he’s just two years removed from shooting 40.4% from three with the Denver Nuggets.
Replacing Lopez on defense would be complex, but he’s also aging and, let’s face it, he’s not the athletic defender Milwaukee needs.
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