About two minutes after midnight Eastern time, the Milwaukee Bucks reportedly signed Tony Snell to a four-year, $46 million deal.
Well, so much for suspense. Minutes into the new NBA league year, starting July 1 Eastern time, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Milwaukee Bucks had reached a deal with Tony Snell.
Snell was the biggest free agent acquisition the Bucks could make, seeing as the team was already going to be over the salary cap for the coming season before signing him. Milwaukee was able to go over the cap further to retain their own player, hence the deal being common sense.
According to Woj, in his first tweet as an ESPN reporter (congratulations!), the Bucks got Snell on a four-year, $46 million deal, $44 million of which is guaranteed. Additionally, there’s a player option for Snell after the third season.
Sources: Tony Snell has agreed to 4-year, $46M deal -- $44M guaranteed -- to return to Milwaukee. Player option... https://t.co/2KNELDMrdS
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2017
I’d assume the non-guaranteed portion of the deal comes on the last season, but that’s mere speculation. Maybe Jon Horst is a big Jay-Z fan and wanted to commemorate 4:44 dropping. At face value, the Bucks paid $11.5 million per season for Snell, which on its own is really not that much.
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In concert with contracts recently given to Matthew Dellavedova, John Henson, and Mirza Teletovic, suddenly the Bucks are flush with role players who, in turn, are flush with cash.
Snell was definitely the best of that bunch last season. After a lackluster start to his career with the Chicago Bulls, Snell came alive as a starter on the Bucks last season, filling a vital hole for both Khris Middleton and then, later, Jabari Parker, both of whom missed time with injury.
In 80 starts for Milwaukee, Snell averaged 8.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game. He shot 45.5 percent from the field, 40.6 percent from deep and an impressive 54.8 percent from two-point territory.
Snell playing well next to Middleton might be the biggest reason Milwaukee saw fit to hand him this money. With Jabari missing part of next season, and the Bucks reportedly interested in trading him before his most recent injury, setting the two, three and four spots with Snell, Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo makes sense long-term.
Snell will be expected to start next season in Milwaukee’s starting lineup, along with those two, Malcolm Brogdon and Thon Maker. With a wingspan of 7 feet, Snell certainly fits into team all-length nicely.
Next: 20 Reasonable Free Agent Possibilities for the Bucks
With the 2017-18 NBA salary cap announced at just over $99 million, Milwaukee now sits with nearly $120 million on the books for next season. Now that the big signing is out of the way, the summer of salary dumps can proceed for the Milwaukee Bucks.