Milwaukee Bucks: 20 realistic free agent options for the Bucks
By Adam McGee
With minimal cap space available, we take a look at 20 players who the Milwaukee Bucks could consider when free agency opens on July 1.
You know all of those glamorous names you’ve heard are hitting free agency this summer? Leave them at the door. Instead, welcome to the Milwaukee Bucks veteran minimum extravaganza of 2017!
To say the Bucks are facing a cap squeeze this summer would be an understatement, as the reality is they’re going to come very close to crossing over into the luxury tax.
With Greg Monroe’s decision to opt in for the final year of his deal, Tony Snell is Milwaukee’s most significant outgoing free agent this summer. With the expectation being the Bucks will match any reasonable offer for Snell in restricted free agency, the team will then be left with a couple of roster spots to fill and next to no money left to work with.
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Of course they could offload some salary in a trade, opening the door to some potentially more lucrative targets, but barring that eventuality the focus for the Bucks will be on a couple of veteran minimum level deals.
Although that makes for a pretty grim reality for a team looking to improve, essentially the players signed at that price should be little more than end of rotation guys.
Even better, if you can pick up players who either have yet to fully realize their potential, or haven’t fully dipped into late-career decline, you could have a value deal that changes the shape of your bench.
Effectively, the Bucks are forced in to playing Moneyball this summer, and looking for the players their rivals might miss, who will pair perfectly with their existing young core of talent.
In preparation for the Bucks’ free agent scavenger hunt, I’ve taken a look at 20 players who could fit that bill, including a couple of Milwaukee’s own unrestricted free agents.
In reality, many of these players may well end up fetching salaries far greater than the Bucks can offer, but as a starting point they at least seem like contenders to come in on the lower range of the salary scale.
Without further ado, let’s get down to it!