The Milwaukee Bucks have been quiet on the trade front thus far this offseason. However, that does not mean they have not had any discussions about possible trades. It certainly does not mean that fans and analysts haven’t discussed possible trades either.
While the assumption around the NBA is that the Bucks will work to keep Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez, that does not mean they are not discussing all of their options amongst themselves. A recent report by ESPN’s Zac Lowe on his podcast revealed that Milwaukee had internal discussions about trading for then-Atlanta Hawks power forward John Collins.
What Would the Milwaukee Bucks Have Had to Do to Get John Collins?
According to Lowe,
“A team I heard at least had some relatively serious internal discussions about ‘Should we wade into the John Collins thing?’ And I don’t know if they contacted Atlanta or how serious it got, was Milwaukee.
“And that’s interesting to me because I do think Milwaukee is looking around for, like, ‘Can we get a little just injection of randomness? An injection of, like, balance and athleticism. And just change. Maybe just change more than anything else. I don’t think it went anywhere serious.'”
Collins ended up being traded by the Hawks to the Utah Jazz for Rudy Gay and a future second round pick. But what would a trade with the Bucks have looked like?
Collins has an annual salary of approximately $25 million per year. If the Bucks were to have worked out a trade for Collins, Holiday and Middleton likely would not have been involved due to their higher salaries. That is, of course, unless Atlanta was willing to part with another player.
What could have happened was the Bucks including Bobby Portis and one of Pat Connaughton or Grayson Allen. However, that would not have made much sense for Milwaukee.
Since Jevon Carter declined his option, they only have six players under contract for the 2023-24 season. Had they traded two players for Collins, they would only have five.
To be certain, the Bucks will get pretty creative this offseason in order to fill out their roster. It remains to be seen if any trades occur, and if they do, who is involved.
It is highly unlikely that Middleton and Holiday will be involved in any trades as the team has expressed its desire to keep both.
*All salary numbers were researched from Spotrac.
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