Milwaukee Bucks: Welcome to salary cap hell, Milwaukee

The Milwaukee Bucks could use some more good players. Unfortunately, the team doesn’t have cash on hand these days.

The Milwaukee Bucks need a point guard something fierce, in a market with a lot of them entering unrestricted free agency. Malcolm Brogdon and Matthew Dellavedova don’t help the offense as much as other point guards because they aren’t capable of making pull-up threes, something explored further right here.

Unfortunately, Milwaukee does not have cap room to use on any such free agents at the moment. Like, any cap room. Reports from Bill Simmons and Kevin O’Connor on the BS Podcast have the cap shrinking, not going up, this next year.

Even if Tony Snell is completely disregarded, the Bucks have $102-ish million on the books for next season. With a projected salary cap of $102 million, there clearly isn’t space left for the Bucks to do much of anything.

That’s not even mentioning the Bucks two recently-drafted rookies, D.J. Wilson and Sterling Brown. Rookie deals are affordable, but every dollar counts when the the luxury tax is in play.

Spencer Hawes seems like a prime bet to accept his player option, which will cost Milwaukee another $6 million. He can be stretched, as Frank Madden explains here, which would save the Bucks $4 million if the team is determined to cut costs by discarding The Needle.

Luckily for the team, this NBA offseason is off the rails already. Deals are happening left and right in the Association. If Milwaukee gets in on one and sheds some salary, the team can find some breathing room, although the Bucks will not be a player for any major free agents unless they take major discounts.

Mirza Teletovic is on the books for $10.5 million next season, and the year after that. Brooklyn could find a way to fit him into their cap space by attaching a random contract they have, and essentially take him away for nothing–aside from a draft pick the Nets might want for their troubles.

His deal isn’t bad enough and his production isn’t low enough for that to be worth a first round pick. But maybe a future second-rounder would convince Sean Marks to take Mirza and inject even more spacing into the Nets offense going forward.

More from Behind the Buck Pass

There’s a way Milwaukee could add a point guard without even shaking up the roster that much. Patrick Beverly is reportedly available for trade, as the Houston Rockets prepare a trade package to acquire Paul George.

There’s no estimate yet on what he might cost, but it’s possible that the Bucks could flip Hawes or Dellavedova, plus a draft pick, to the Rockets in exchange for Beverly. That would give Milwaukee the point guard the team desires, who can really only be attained by trade at this point, barring the Bucks somehow drafting a player who could start instantly.

As was pointed out to me on Twitter on Tuesday, adding that point guard could cause Brogdon to move into an off-ball role, more like the position he was assumed to play when he was drafted, which is an interesting thought going forward, especially if Snell doesn’t end up returning to Milwaukee.

Next: Free Agent Profile: Jeff Teague

The Bucks are not in a great spot. If Snell is brought back and no salary is dumped, there’s a good chance a core that won 42 games last season will be in the luxury tax this year, which is something ownership likely wants no part of. And that’s all before a Jabari Parker extension is even discussed.

Home/Bucks News