The Milwaukee Bucks are reportedly still considering trading Greg Monroe, but who are the teams they could potentially look to strike a deal with?
If anyone assumed that Greg Monroe’s decision to opt into the final year of his contract guaranteed he’d be playing out that year with the Milwaukee Bucks, it might be time to think twice on that.
Monroe is, once again, reportedly the focus of trade discussions, as the Bucks continue to consider their options, and look to avoid the luxury tax in the early days of free agency.
The news was first reported by Ian Begley of ESPN, while Jordan Schultz of Yahoo! followed up with further insight.
One move Bucks are trying to accomplish at the moment: moving Greg Monroe, per sources. They've been trying to do so on and off for a while.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) July 1, 2017
They won't have trouble moving Monroe if that's the direction #Bucks choose to go. Source tells me there is a great deal of interest for him https://t.co/UfaZRu0LTD
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) July 1, 2017
While the idea of there being a great deal of interest for Monroe seems a little hard to grasp considering Milwaukee’s difficulties in finding a deal for the big man in the past two seasons, the Louisiana native is coming off the back of arguably the best season of his NBA career to date.
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In 2016-17, Monroe embraced a bench role which allowed him to feast on second units, while also becoming the consummate team player, and a much more active and productive defender. To put it simply, Monroe became a vital cog of Milwaukee’s success last season.
So, why are the Bucks looking to trade him, and in turn what would they be looking to get back?
The ideal scenario would undoubtedly be to move Monroe for a useful piece in return while also reducing the salary bill, but that may be little more than a pipe dream.
If the Bucks are forced to decide on one or the other, a trade for assets could well see Milwaukee take back close to equal value in salary and mean further moves would still be required to avoid the tax, while a salary dump may result in having to bundle Moose with valuable future assets.
In other words, it’s unlikely the Bucks will find many teams who could fit all of the criteria to lead to them “winning” a Monroe trade. Still, with the Bucks said to be giving it thought, let’s take a look at three teams who could be trade partners if Monroe is in fact on the block again.