Milwaukee Bucks Roundtable: Important free agency decisions lie ahead

Q2. How would you approach Jabari Parker’s free agency if you were the Bucks general manager?

TK: On a radio show near the end of the season, Jabari said he’d have wished for three years, $54 million. So if I’m Horst I’m starting with a three years, $39 million offer and go from there. I think three years, $54 million is actually a bit too much. If he gets offered that and the Bucks have to match it, I think it’s about a 50-50 decision and even in matching they should consider looking to sign and trade. Any more than that and Milwaukee should just let him go because I think he’ll have negative value even in a sign and trade. Jabari getting $20 million per year is a negative asset.

BR: Judging from recent rumors, it sounds like Jabari is drumming up interest among multiple teams. That being said, I think the Bucks need to continue to show strong interest in re-signing Jabari in order to keep his demand high for a possible sign-and-trade situation.

If they don’t find a deal they think is worth his value, I think they need to match any offer under $18 million per year and trust Coach Budenholzer to increase his value for the following summer. I’d be hesitant to match an offer exceeding three years given his injury history, but hopefully other teams will act just as rationally (although the Kings are rumored to have interest).

JT: Well, I first would like to say that I apologize profusely that I’m the Bucks GM in this hypothetical world (Did someone say Michael Beasley super-max?). But getting to the point, I absolutely have no idea how I would approach Jabari’s free agency.

Considering my Bucks fandom and the fact that this team dominates my thoughts for a significant chunk of my everyday life, it’s hard not to think of this situation through the lens of the Bucks. But as free agency has inched closer and closer, I’ve thought more about how opposing teams would go about approaching Parker in restricted free agency and I’m not sure what would lead to an offer sheet being signed that satisfies another team and Parker’s desires for long-term financial security.

Ultimately, the ball is in the Bucks’ court, but given how much of an impact making a long-term commitment to Jabari will impact the Bucks’ window as constructed, I’ve increasingly lost hope and/or interest in seeing this partnership continue due to how much is still unknown regarding who Jabari is as a player and how his ideal potential seems so very out of reach at this point due to a variety of factors.

AM: I’ve spoken about this at length on the podcast in recent days, but if I’ve I’m the general manager, Jabari Parker is likely playing elsewhere next season.

The risk in re-signing him to almost any contract is so significant, and the reasons why that’s the case are many.

Will his health hold up? Does he fit with the better players already on the roster? What will his attitude be if he comes back at a lesser rate and is asked to take up a role that he feels doesn’t match his ability? Is he the kind of player that even can be developed by Budenholzer and his staff? Would he just prefer a fresh start?

The Bucks already have a superstar in Giannis Antetokounmpo, meaning they don’t need to put all of their eggs in the Jabari Parker basket. In fact, doing so could be to their detriment. Re-signing Jabari at anything above the mid-level for multiple years will take the Bucks out of free agency relevance for the remainder of Giannis’ contract, meaning their best option may be little more than keeping their current core together at a greater cost.

I believe in what Antetokounmpo, Middleton and Budenholzer can build with the Bucks. I don’t believe, with all of his red flags, that keeping Parker is worth completely losing the opportunity to add a better player to aid their push toward contention down the road.