Milwaukee Bucks Rumors: Bucks now ‘aggressively’ pursuing Ben McLemore
By Ti Windisch
The Milwaukee Bucks rumors are still circulating about Ben McLemore, and it sounds like Milwaukee is in hot pursuit of the young shooting guard.
As previously reported and covered right here, Milwaukee Bucks rumors are indicating that the team is looking to sign Ben McLemore (more on him, including on his fit with the Bucks, can be found right here) this summer. This is no normal interest on Milwaukee’s part, though.
A new rumor has the Bucks aggressively pursuing McLemore. It’s now super serious. Yahoo Sports’ Jordan Schultz tweeted as much early Saturday morning.
The #Bucks are aggressively going after free agent guard Ben McLemore, source says.
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) July 1, 2017
A follow-up tweet by Schultz added a few other teams–the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers–who are interested in McLemore as well, but their interest was not classified as “aggressive” so who really cares.
Both #Knicks and #Lakers also interested in McLemore I'm told https://t.co/OgXUUv0dNy
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) July 1, 2017
McLemore would provide valuable depth to Milwaukee. With the newly-signed Tony Snell expected to start, at least while Jabari Parker is out with an injury, the Bucks have Matthew Dellavedova, Rashad Vaughn, Gary Payton II and presumably Sterling Brown as bench guards.
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With only one of those players being proven NBA talents, that’s not an ideal bench. McLemore may not be an established star or anything, but at least he can shoot, which is more than Vaughn can say at the NBA level.
Unfortunately, McLemore has not shown an ability to do much of anything besides shoot. He’s young-ish and athletic-ish, but he’s not a lockdown defender by any means, although maybe a change of scenery will give him a lift.
He’s certain to get that change of scenery this summer, after the Sacramento Kings declined to offer him a qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent. Instead of the typical process, which would’ve given Sacramento the ability to match any deal McLemore signed, the Kings chose to move on quickly.
The one problem here is the Bucks don’t project to have a roster spot open at the moment. Milwaukee has 13 players under contract and two 2017 draftees yet to be signed, meaning unless McLemore signs a two-way contract he doesn’t fit on their roster pending another move.
Next: Bucks Sign Tony Snell To Four-Year, $46 Million Deal
It will be fascinating to see what Milwaukee does going forward. The Bucks can sign players now and make moves later, before signing their rookies. Between roster spots and the lack of cap space, the Milwaukee Bucks are in a tight spot right now.