Milwaukee Bucks Trade Tyler Ennis For Michael Beasley

The Milwaukee Bucks have acquired Michael Beasley from the Houston Rockets, sending Tyler Ennis in the opposite direction.

Wasting no time following the confirmation of Khris Middleton‘s injury news, the Milwaukee Bucks completed a deal to give the team greater wing depth.

As first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports’ The Vertical, the Bucks sent Tyler Ennis to the Rockets in exchange for Michael Beasley.

Although the addition of a wing to help replace the glaring hole in the rotation left by Middleton’s absence was expected, Michael Beasley being that man was an undoubted surprise.

According to Charles Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, this was far from a reactionary move though.

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That sentiment is backed up by general manager John Hammond’s comments from a statement released by the Bucks confirming the deal too.

"“We’re excited to add a player with Michael’s skill set to our team,” said Hammond. “He’s someone that we’ve kept our eye on the last few seasons and we’re looking forward to watching him compete throughout training camp and the season.”"

Hammond also added a note in regard to the departing Tyler Ennis.

"“We wish Tyler the best and thank him for his contributions to the Bucks, both on and off the court.”"

Beasley entered the NBA as the second overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, but plagued by inconsistencies, off the court issues and drug problems, the 27-year-old has failed to stick with any one team in the NBA.

The Maryland native started his career with impressive play in Miami, extending out to when he was traded to Minnesota and averaged 19.2 points and 5.6 rebounds in his third season, but has fallen off significantly in the time that has passed since.

He returned to the NBA late last year to provide solid contributions for the Rockets after an MVP winning season with the Shandong Golden Stars in China, but question marks still remain over his focus and attitude over a larger sample size.

Career averages of 13 points and 4.8 rebounds on 45.2 percent from the field and 34.3 from deep show there’s certainly some skill there, but as a traditionally high usage player, whether it’s possible to get the best out of Beasley and the rest of the players on a team remains in doubt.

As for Ennis, although his opportunities in Milwaukee were relatively limited, he proved himself to be highly serviceable when given the opportunity to play and showed the potential to grow into a talented low usage point guard considering he’s still very young.

With Michael Carter-Williams, Matthew Dellavedova and Jason Terry all under contract in Milwaukee, and Giannis Antetokounmpo expected to do the majority of the ball-handling, opportunities for Ennis were set to be even fewer this year though.

Moving to Houston who have very little depth at the lead guard position behind Patrick Beverley, Ennis should get greater playing time and could even make a nice complement considering his play style alongside James Harden.

For his time in Milwaukee, Ennis averaged 4.3 points, 2.2 assists and 1.5 rebounds per game.

Whether the Milwaukee Bucks are done making moves to cover off Middleton remains to be seen, according to Gardner, there could still be more to come.

"“Right now general manager John Hammond and assistant general manager Justin Zanik are faced with another pressing question: How do the Bucks try to make up for Middleton’s absence? Beasley might offer some help but more may be needed.The team is carrying 15 guaranteed contracts and is not applying for a disabled player exception, a move that would need to be approved by a doctor and would assume Middleton could not return before the end of the season.So it’s still reasonable to think that Hammond will pursue a trade for another wing player, someone who can replace at least some of the three-point production Middleton provides.”"

Next: Win In 6 Podcast #77: Khris Middleton Is Injured And Everything Sucks

At the very least the Bucks now have an option to turn to at backup small forward when the season starts, but with how weird this week has been so far, who knows what could happen next.