The Milwaukee Bucks have shown massive improvements over the last couple of weeks. Milwaukee looked as if they were going to be heading toward the basement in the Eastern Conference this season and have dug themselves out of it and have an 8-9 record this season.
One of the players who has been on the trade market for the Bucks over the past year or so is Pat Connaughton. Connaughton has a player option for the 2025-2026 season and if he opts into his player option, he won’t be a free agent until after that season.
Sports Illustrated Creates Three-Team Mock Trade That Would Send Milwaukee Bucks Guard Pat Connaughton To the Atlanta Hawks
Sports Illustrated writer Rohan Raman created a three-team mock trade in his latest article to try and fix the Atlanta Hawks. He has the Hawks acquiring Pat Connaughton from the Bucks and also Santi Aldama. Raman has the Bucks acquiring Marcus Smart from the Grizzlies. Rohan Ramam has the Memphis Grizzlies acquiring: Larry Nance Jr., Bobby Portis, MarJon Beauchamp, a 2025 first-round pick (from Sacramento via Atlanta- Top 12 protected), and a 2031 second-round pick (from Milwaukee via Milwaukee).
This one interesting blockbuster trade that he proposed between these three teams. There are reasons why he thinks the Bucks would do this trade and why they wouldn’t do this trade. Raman talked about the reason why they would do this trade:
“Smart’s a good ball-handler who competes for rebounds, offers some secondary offense and fits as a solid piece in a fairly leaky Bucks defense. He has tons of playoff experience and would give a shallow Bucks team some legitimate depth.”
The interesting thing is that Milwaukee would be giving up Pat Connaughton, Bobby Portis, and MarJon Beauchamp for Marcus Smart in this three-team trade. It will also open up more play time for some of the other players on the Bucks roster.
Why They Wouldn’t Do This Trade
The main reason that he gives as to why the Bucks wouldn’t trade for Marcus Smart is as follows:
“He has had trouble staying healthy and has not looked like the same player when healthy. Furthermore, he has never been a particulary great shooter from deep during the regular season. He does make a jump from a career 32-33% shooter from deep to a 35-37% shooter in the postseason, but there is risk involved with adding him to a Bucks team that has been solid from deep (15th in attempts, 10th in percentage).”
The last thing that the Milwaukee Bucks need is another injury-riddled player on the roster. Milwaukee is dealing with other issues with Khris Middleton, who has yet to play in a game this season. However, the Bucks would be able to get rid of Portis and Connaughton in this trade, who have been rumored for quite some time to be traded.
Another player who has also been rumored to be dealt this season is Brook Lopez. This will not be the last time this season that Pat Connaughton and others on the roster are mentioned in trade talks.
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