Milwaukee Bucks: Grades And Reactions For Miles Plumlee Trade

The Milwaukee Bucks sent Miles Plumlee to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Roy Hibbert and Spencer Hawes. How does the deal grade for the Bucks, though?

With a center logjam in both minutes and salary that seemed as if it would be very difficult to remedy, many Milwaukee Bucks observers (this writer included) had virtually given up all hope on the chances of a trade that would brighten the long-term picture.

Sure, playing as well as he has been lately you might just have been able to find a taker for a few months of Greg Monroe. Although he’s never come close to fully realizing his potential, John Henson still has the skills and physical profile that some team in search of a rim-protector could have been convinced to take a flyer on too.

Miles Plumlee, on the other hand, seemed like the impossible trade. Having just signed a particularly rich contract that the Bucks had dished out to him — in spite of his being a restricted free agent with no offer sheets — it seemed safe to say that Plumlee’s future would be in Milwaukee for better or worse.

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Rich Cho and his Charlotte Hornets’ brain trust had other ideas, though.

In news that certainly would have caught many around the league and fans of both teams off guard, reports from ESPN and The Vertical revealed on Thursday afternoon that Plumlee was destined to become a Hornet, with centers Spencer Hawes and Roy Hibbert coming back in the opposite direction.

For just as surprising as the existence of any sort of deal between the two teams was, the return involved for both may have been even more puzzling. Having added two new centers in what many are viewing as a breaking up of an existing center logjam, there’s plenty to unpack for both sides.

Let’s take a closer look at the parties involved, before dishing out a final grade.