Milwaukee Bucks reportedly agree to a one-year deal with Brook Lopez

According to reports, the Milwaukee Bucks have reached an agreement to bring in 30-year-old big man Brook Lopez on a one-year, $3.4 million deal.

After storming out of the gates on the opening night of this year’s NBA Free Agency, all has been quiet surrounding the Milwaukee Bucks.

That is no longer the case as the Bucks have made their latest move in free agency by bringing brutish big man Brook Lopez, which was first reported by Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports.

Both ESPN’s Chris Haynes and Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel confirmed the news minutes later by specifying that the deal is set to be one year and the Bucks will use their-bi annual exception to add him, which comes in at $3.4 million.

A mainstay with the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets for his first nine NBA seasons, Lopez most recently played with the Los Angeles Lakers this year after being dealt for D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov (or Tim) in June 2017.

In 74 appearances with the Lakers last year, 72 of them coming as starts, Lopez put up 13 points on shooting splits of .465/.345/.703, along with 4 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.3 blocks.

Having long been an accomplished low post scorer throughout his career, Lopez has improved and extended his range beyond the arc for the last two seasons. The results have been respectable as the former Stanford Cardinal has knocked down 34.6 percent of his 712 three-point attempts over that span.

Between that and his serviceable rim protection, Lopez finds himself in good company as Frank Urbina of Hoops Hype pointed out here.

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Of course, the big knock on Lopez earlier in his career had been his health/overall durability after missing the majority of both the 2011-12 season and the 2013-14 campaign after breaking his right foot in both instances.

Since that 13-14 year, however, Lopez has remained in good health by logging 70-plus games over the last four seasons.

Where this latest addition leaves the Bucks at this point in the offseason is an interesting question, especially with Jabari Parker’s restricted free agency looming over everything they do.

While nothing has come about just yet on that front, Jeff Siegel over at Early Bird Rights relayed the financial implications of the Lopez deal as it relates to what is the most the Bucks can offer the second overall pick of the 2014 NBA Draft.

The other thread hanging over the Lopez addition is what does this mean for the Bucks’ current center crop of John Henson, Thon Maker and Tyler Zeller.

Of the three, Zeller may be the most in jeopardy of seeing his time in Milwaukee get cut short in the foreseeable future, considering his full salary for next season doesn’t guarantee until January 10 next year.

With the number of questions surrounding all three of Henson, Maker and Zeller, Lopez potentially addresses the consistency issues and stands as a solid stopgap solution, that is if everything breaks the way the Bucks are hoping for with his addition.

Next: Bucks throttle Detroit Pistons 90-63 in 2018 Summer League opener

At this point, all that’s left to say is welcome to Milwaukee, Brook!