Milwaukee currently only has seven players under contract
How much did the Bucks spend on players in 2022-2023?
The Milwaukee Bucks spent quite a bit of money in the 2022-2023 for nothing much to show from it all, save an early first round playoff upset exit.
Milwaukee spent $178 million dollars on player salaries which put them 28 million dollars over the NBA’s luxury tax. ($150 million)
The Bucks currently are $27,000,000 over the ACTIVE NBA Salary Cap. The good news for Milwaukee is this is a very common thing in the NBA (The ‘Cap’ in the NBA is much more of a suggestion.) That 27 million number does not count any “CAP HOLDS” or the room to be able to re-sign current NBA veterans under ‘Bird Rights’, another unique concept to the NBA alone.
Of the 30 total NBA teams, only 11 are currently under the ACTIVE CAP number.
The NBA informed teams a few weeks ago that the NBA salary CAP number will go up for the 23-24 season to 134 Million dollars per tram. The current CAP number is 124 million per year.
Milwaukee currently only has seven players under contract for the 2023-2024 season.
Related: Are the Bucks “Over the Hill”?
Who are the free agents?
The end of the season for the Milwaukee Bucks was about as brutal of an end as anyone could have expected. The franchise was expected and built to be able to compete for an NBA Championship. Instead, their season is over after having lost to the #8 seed Miami Heat 4 games to 1. For Milwaukee to make the roster moves they made, and then lose as badly as they lost, major changes should be forthcoming and expected.
Here is the list of Milwaukee’s pending free agents and some brief notes by some of the guys.
- Khris Middleton (player option)
According to Sportrac, Middleton has to decide by June 21st if he will accept his $40,000,000 player option.
- Brook Lopez (unrestricted free agent)
- Jevon Carter (player option)
According to Sportrac, Carter has to decide by June 29th if he will accept his $2,200,000 player option.
- Wesley Matthews (unrestricted free agent)
- Thanasis Antetokounmpo (unrestricted free agent)
- Joe Ingles (unrestricted free agent)
- Jae Crowder (unrestricted free agent)
- Meyers Leonard (unrestricted free agent)
- Goran Dragic (unrestricted free agent)
- AJ Green (restricted)
- Lindell Wigginton (restricted)
On that list, it is a possibility that all of those players could be gone for the 2023-2024 season.
One would think Thanasis would be back because of his relationship to Giannis. But if Milwaukee feels like he is not even worth 2 million a season he’ll be gone.
Brook Lopez is 34 and has an often-injured back. Milwaukee appears to have a current $20 million Cap Hold (Bird rights) for him but is that the way to go here?
Khris Middleton might not want to exercise his player option in the hopes that he could get a two hundred million dollar plus contract extension. He is scheduled to be the Bucks second highest paid player at just over $40 million next year.
The Bucks gave up a ton of draft capital to get Jae Crowder so you might hope he’d be back. Maybe, maybe not.
But again, in reality, they might all be gone. Milwaukee only has seven players under contract for next season. You can still make a decent starting five out of these seven.
Current Players Under Contract
- Giannis Antetokounmpo- 5 yr $228,200,420 S-MAX Expires 2026
- Jrue Holiday- 4 yr $134,997,333 Expires 2025
- Bobby Portis- 4 yr $48,578,208 Expires 2026
- Pat Connaughton- 3 yr $28,271,607 Expires 2026
- Grayson Allen- 2 yr $18,700,000 Expires 2024
- MarJon Beauchamp- 4 yr $12,609,596 Expires 2026
- Lindell Wigginton Expires 2024
So, with that being said, who will the Bucks keep? Who could they get instead? With NBA free agency still a ways away (July 6th) who will be on this team next year?
Keep your eyes here on Wi Sports Heroics for updates and for all of the Bucks talk and rumors.
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