Bucks GM Jon Horst
Milwaukee Bucks general manager Jon Horst held a pre-draft Zoom call with reporters on Monday to discuss the latest on the team as the NBA Draft approaches Wednesday night, the ability to make trades starting yester (Monday) and free agency opening Friday. By the time the day finished, most of what Horst said became irrelevent.
Monday night, the Bucks pulled off a pair of big deals with New Orleans and Sacramento, hoping their all-in approach will convince star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo to sign a Supermax deal with the team as early as Sunday.
The Bucks and Pelicans came up with a trade agreement with the Bucks getting all-star guard Jrue Holiday for Eric Bledsoe and George Hill as well as three first-round draft picks. The deal also allows the Bucks to swap picks with the Bucks in two other drafts. The deal is expected to leave the Bucks without their first round pick (24th overall) in Wednesday nights draft.
Following that deal, the Bucks sent Donte DiVincenzo, D.J. Wilson and Ersan Ilyasova to the Kings for Bogdan Bogdanovic and Justin James. DiVincenzo was the Bucks first round pick in 2018 while Wilson was taken in the first round in 2017.
The deals still leave the Bucks well over the salary cap with just seven players on their roster and little depth to speak of at the moment. It’ll leave Horst trying to build the rest of his roster with minimum contracts.
Holiday is coming off a season that saw him average 19.1 points and 6.7 assists a game, giving the Bucks a sure scorer that they didn’t have in Bledsoe, or Wesley Matthews last season.
Bogdanovic averaged 15.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists for the Kings last season. He’s a career 37.4% shooter from three point distance, which will fit in well with Mike Budenholzer’s offense.
DiVincenzo is the key loss in this deal. He averaged 9.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists last season and was a key defender for the Bucks at guard.