Milwaukee Bucks: Grades for Brook Lopez’s one-year, $3.4 million deal

Role

Often when free agency signings are reported or announced, much of the discussion around the player’s role involves little more than projection and speculation, but that doesn’t seem to be the case in this scenario.

Following a season where he was far from a priority on the court for a team with priorities that likely extended beyond winning, it’s not all that shocking that Lopez opted to take a little bit less money to put himself in a situation where not only can he be on a playoff team, but where there’s a clear path for him to take up a meaningful role.

That certainly applies to the Bucks, where Lopez will have a chance to secure the kind of starting role that may not have been all that easy to find elsewhere in the NBA. In fact, it doesn’t seem like too much of a reach to guess that conversations about that role may have played a factor in his willingness to sign at the bi-annual exception.

Chris Haynes of ESPN, who was among the first to report the deal, even made a note on that front in his own write-up about the deal:

"“Milwaukee is expected to pencil in the 10-year veteran as its starting center.”"

Saying that, rotations are increasingly fluid and will likely be much more in flux with the positive range of options the Bucks will have next season.

A player of Lopez’s caliber obviously offers a potential solution to what’s been a long-time gap in Milwaukee’s starting five, but also gives them another player capable of propping up second unit lineups in spurts in more of a central role.

A combination of those two would likely be ideal for Lopez, giving him a chance to be a front-line contributor to the team’s success while also affording him the chances to star offensively in bursts throughout games and the course of the season.