Bucks Gaming acquire additional first round draft pick
By Adam McGee
As the Milwaukee Bucks Gaming squad continue to retool their roster for their second season, their recent trade landed an additional first round draft pick.
An offseason filled with change for the Milwaukee Bucks Gaming roster continues, as the team’s decision-makers work toward bouncing back from a disappointing first season.
Having already lost former second round pick oLarry via the expansion draft, the upcoming 2K League Draft had already grown in importance for Bucks Gaming. With the organization yet to have retained any additional players from last year’s roster beyond Game6Drake and BigMeek, who were protected prior to expansion, the strategy of retooling via the draft has become apparent.
Another development on that front arrived late last week as Bucks Gaming completed the first trade in the franchise’s history.
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In the deal, the Bucks sent the rights to KinG PeroXide, otherwise known as Matthew Hoffman, to Blazer5 Gaming in exchange for the Portland franchise’s upcoming first round pick.
In a statement announcing the deal, Blazer5 Gaming’s Operations Manager, Cameron McAlees, had the following to say about his team’s acquisition of KinG PeroXide:
"“Matthew is a great player that showed his worth not only this season, but in the work that he has put in during the offseason. We’re really looking forward to bringing him to Portland and can’t wait to get started next season.”"
The pick sent to Bucks Gaming is slated to be 17th overall, and will combine with the Bucks’ existing picks at sixth, 27th, 48th and 69th to provide the front office with a wide variety of options.
With rosters carrying only six players and the option still remaining for Bucks Gaming to retain either Procis1on or STL2LA, further deals are inevitable for Milwaukee, and should provide the team with a great chance to trade for an existing talent elsewhere, or bundle picks to move even higher up in the draft.
Replacing KinG PeroXide will be no small task, though, as some of Bucks Gaming’s most impressive individual performances in their inaugural season certainly belonged to him during his spell playing as a point forward.
KinG PeroXide averaged 13.6 points, 3.1 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game, while shooting 56.2 percent from the field and 43 percent from deep.
Now moving on to Blazer5 Gaming, who entered the playoffs as the league’s top seed, KinG PeroXide will pair alongside OneWildWalnut, the winner of both the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards in the 2K League’s first season.
As for the Bucks, the ultimate shape of the team’s roster is still uncertain, but the plan is clear. Bucks Gaming want another meaningful shot at the draft, where they’ll hope to find some game-changing talent capable of pushing them to the playoffs next season.