With the NBA’s trade season underway, here is how valuable each Milwaukee Bucks player is as a trade asset.
It’s February, which for NBA fans means trade season and the annual trade deadline frenzy is nearly upon us. We’ve already seen some big storylines and trades with Kristaps Porzingis being traded to the Dallas Mavericks, and Anthony Davis revealing his intentions to leave New Orleans.
The league-leading Milwaukee Bucks aren’t likely to be big players in the trade deadline hullabaloo, but one can never know what’s happening behind the scenes. As such, to prime fans for the trade season, I’ve put together a ranking of each Bucks player by trade value.
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Now, I want to emphasize that this is not a ranking of the Bucks’ best players, but of their trade value. There are many factors that go into a player’s trade value from his on-court performance, off-court personality, contract, age, injury history, and more.
I’ll be ranking all 15 members of the Bucks in descending order. beginning with No. 15 and ending with No.1. (Spoiler alert: No.1 is who you think it is.)
I’ll rank each player and explain the ranking using the various factors that make them an asset of great or lesser value for the Bucks.
So without further ado, let’s get started by looking at the player who ranks 15th on this list.
15. Jason Smith
Apologies to Mr. Smith, who overall seems like a good guy and teammate, but someone has to come in last in these rankings. Smith, who came to the Bucks via trade from the Washington Wizards on December 7, has hardly seen any playing time with the Bucks.
Smith has played in just six games in a Bucks uniform, all of them in garbage time when the game was well in hand. The Bucks did not acquire the 32-year-old, veteran center in his 12th season because they thought he would help them to win games. His contract just made the money work.
And, that’s essentially all Smith has to offer when it comes to trade value. He’s on the last year of a contract that’s worth $5.4 million, which makes him a valuable commodity as a player who can make a larger trade work without the team acquiring him having to worry about paying him after this season.
Smith does have some positives. He is seven-feet tall and at 240 pounds seems to be in good shape. After all, you can’t teach size. If he signs with another team this offseason it’ll likely be in the same role that he is in now, a break-in-case-of-emergency center who doesn’t cause trouble and is a true professional.
Right now, his flexible contract is worth more than the actual player and if he does get moved, it’ll be because the money fits into a larger deal.
14. Christian Wood
Christian Wood is a bit of a Rorschach test when it comes to determining trade value. In terms of NBA experience, he has virtually none, but Wood has been absolutely killing it in the G League.
This season with the Wisconsin Herd, Wood is averaging 28 points, 13 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game while shooting 61 percent from the field. Even for the G League, where defense is sometimes optional, those are impressive stats.
It’s gotten to the point that some Bucks fans are eager to see Wood get a shot in the big leagues with the Bucks, and get some playing time over bench big men Ersan Ilyasova and Thon Maker, who have struggled as of late.
Since he impressed during the 2018 Summer League with the Bucks, fans have been excited about the potential of the 6’10” big man out of UNLV.
Wood is a tremendous athlete who runs the floor with ease, has a condor-like wingspan that makes him a feared shot-blocker, and even the occasional ability to hit a jumper.
However, Wood has only appeared in six games for the Bucks with just 37 minutes of game-action, all in mop-up duty. It’s hard to have that much value with so little experience.
The Bucks are Wood’s fourth team in his four years in the league, although he’s still only 23 and won’t turn 24 until September.
There’s clearly some potential there for Wood, which may cause some NBA teams to consider the big man, but until he proves he can at least hang in the NBA consistently, his worth is little more than just a flyer on a young guy.
13. Ersan Ilyasova
If you asked some Bucks fans right now, they would have Ilyasova as last in these rankings. While I don’t agree with that completely, obviously, I do admit that Ilyasova’s value is probably at its lowest point since joining the Bucks.
Last summer, the Bucks signed Ilyasova to a three-year deal worth $21 million, with the final year not guaranteed.
The move made sense, the Bucks desperately needed outside shooting and rebounding, which is what Ilyasova brings to the table, along with solid defense and veteran experience.
The length and amount of the contract, though, puzzled some as it seemed like the Bucks outbid themselves for a player they probably could have gotten for half the price.
At the start of the season, the fit worked about as well could be expected. Ilyasova was new coach Budenholzer’s go-to sixth man off the bench, spacing the floor for Giannis Antetokounmpo and gobbling up rebounds.
Then Ilyasova broke his nose in a game against Cleveland on December 14, causing him to miss eight games. Since his return, Ilyasova hasn’t been able to consistently return to form.
His three-point shooting has cratered, falling to just 34 percent, and most of his offense has gone along with it. Ilyasova is still providing defense by taking charges (he leads the NBA in charges taken), but without at least the threat of a jumper, his value has deflated drastically.
The Bucks will hope it’s more of just a slump rather than a larger downward trend as the 31-year-old forward gets older.
The problem with Ilyasova is that in his absence, players like D.J. Wilson and Sterling Brown have gained more minutes and opportunities, and made the most of them.
So now Ilyasova is in a slump that is difficult to get out of because he’s not playing as much.
With his age, contract and struggles as of late, Ilyasova’s trade value has declined, but he can still get it back up by hitting some shots and contributing in other ways on both ends.
Until then, don’t expect any NBA teams to call the Bucks about his availability.
12. Pat Connaughton
Time to talk about everyone’s favorite explosive leaper, Planet Pat.
Pat Connaughton was signed by the Bucks last summer for two years at $3.36 million total, mostly to add depth to the wing and some outside shooting.
About halfway through the season, Connaughton has done pretty much exactly that. Coming off the bench, Connaughton has made the most of his opportunities by bringing high energy to both ends of the court.
Connaughton uses his incredible athleticism for backdoor cuts that lead to dunks, to grab offensive and defensive rebounds, contest and even block outside shots, and more.
Connaughton has been inconsistent with his shooting, he’s hitting just 29 percent of his three-pointers, but that seems more like an anomaly as he hit 35 percent of his threes in 82 games last season. It could be Connaughton just struggling to shoot when not given consistent minutes, which are hard to come by for a deep Bucks bench unit.
If Connaughton can start to hit more outside shots in line with his time with the Trail Blazers, he could be an even more dangerous weapon off the bench.
When it comes to his value, though, Connaughton has always been a bench player, usually the third or fourth guard on a team’s rotation. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s only so much a team would give up in a trade for Connaughton.
He’s on a team-friendly deal and is still just 26, so he’s got a lot going for him, but unless he begins to start, or at least consistently become a sixth man off the bench, his value will be little more than an additional piece in a larger trade package.
11. Tony Snell
Tony Snell falls under the category of good player, bad contract. Snell isn’t a bad player, in fact, he’s a very capable player with a skill-set in high demand. He’s just a little overpaid.
Snell signed a four-year, $46 million deal with Milwaukee in the summer of 2017, and he’s currently in the second year of that contract. In the next two seasons, Snell is owed $11 million and $12 million. (The final year is a player option that Snell will almost definitely exercise.)
The Bucks signed Snell in the hopes that he could become a three-and-D complement to Giannis, providing outside shooting and strong perimeter defense.
For the most part, that’s exactly what they’ve gotten from Snell. In the past two seasons with the Bucks, Snell has shot 40 percent from deep and is on pace to do so again this year.
However, this year Snell lost his starting spot to Malcolm Brogdon and is now playing only 17 minutes per game, as opposed to 27 per game last season.
Snell is still providing outside shooting and good defense, it’s just he’s not playing enough to warrant the money that’s owed to him
His contract isn’t an albatross and he’s good enough that if he were on the right team and playing enough, he could make it a worthy contract, but paying over $10 million for a bench player is a hefty price.
There are a number of teams that could use the services of Snell, but not many would be willing to trade an asset for him, and then also pay the remaining years on his contract.
If Snell were to be traded, it would likely be in the same vein as when Matthew Dellavedova and John Henson were traded, to get future money off the Bucks’ books.
Snell is more valuable than Henson or Delly were, so he likely wouldn’t need a first round pick to go with him to facilitate a trade, but he would likely need some kind of sweetener for another team to take him off Milwaukee’s hands. Perhaps a second rounder.
10. Donte DiVincenzo
Now we come to the Bucks’ most recent first round pick, The Big Ragu, Donte DiVincenzo.
DiVincenzo’s rookie year started out well, with him surprisingly getting a decent amount of minutes off the bench over players like Connaughton and Sterling Brown.
DiVincenzo was flashing the potential that Budenholzer and the Bucks saw in him when they drafted him, top-level athleticism, solid shooting ability and a high basketball IQ.
Seen as a scorer coming out of college, DiVincenzo was contributing in a variety of other ways from solid on-ball defense, to hustle plays, to using his insane hops to grab rebounds.
But then DiVincenzo got hit with the injury bug that seems to have derailed a majority of his rookie season. DiVincenzo hasn’t played since January 1, and hasn’t seen significant minutes since December 14.
The absence is partly due to injury, and partly due to coach Budenholzer going with other bench players like Brown, Connaughton and the newly-acquired George Hill.
DiVincenzo has flashed enough potential that, at the moment, he looks like he could be a very solid NBA player. Although his shooting has been slow to make its way to the NBA as of yet, just 39 percent from the field and 24 percent from deep so far, that seems more like a question of when not if.
In many ways, DiVincenzo is like a younger Connaughton. He’s going to bring speed and athleticism, tons of energy on both ends and decent enough shooting.
DiVincenzo is younger though, having just turned 22, and is still on a rookie contract which is very valuable for teams, and makes him a slightly better asset than Snell and Connaughton.
The sample size is still too small to make any definitive judgments on DiVincenzo as an NBA player, but the lure of potential is still there and it wouldn’t be surprising if at least one other NBA team wanted a chance to develop the former Villanova star.
9. Sterling Brown
Sterling Brown didn’t get much a chance as a rookie last season until the latter half of the year. By the end of the year, Brown was flashing the strength, shooting and defense that had made him a sleeper pick for Milwaukee.
This season, while seeing more playing time under Budenholzer, Brown has continued to develop into a potent asset for the Bucks off the bench.
Brown is averaging 13 points per 36 minutes, shooting 47 percent from the field and 39 percent from deep. Brown has also found a specialty, becoming a dead-eye corner marksman off numerous catch-and-shoot opportunities given to him from Giannis, Brogdon, Bledsoe and Middleton.
He’s also proved himself on the defensive end, using his stout frame and long arms to be a pest on the perimeter and in the paint. Budenholzer has even used Brown has an undersized power forward, and Brown has held his own against much bigger opponents.
Reliable is a good word to describe Brown. The Bucks know what they’re going to get from him night in and night out. He’s going to bring high-energy, strong defense and can knock down the open three when given the opportunity.
You can just tell Brown is going to be one of those players that will stick around in the NBA for years, coming off the bench and just being a solid player.
Brown turns 24 on February 10, which puts him on the relatively old side for a player in just his second season, but Brown’s value isn’t so much about his potential as his reliability.
His ceiling may not be as high as others, but his floor is higher than most second round picks.
He’s still on his rookie deal which, again, is valuable to NBA teams. Brown won’t be the fulcrum of a blockbuster trade, but he’s a valuable add-on that can really sweeten and close a deal.
8. D.J. Wilson
Undoubtedly the highest riser in these rankings from the start of the season until now is D.J. Wilson.
Going into this season, after his disastrously bad rookie year, I was getting ready to put Wilson on the Bucks’ draft picks wall of shame next to Yi Jianlian and Joe Alexander.
But then one night in Detroit, Wilson got a chance to play meaningful minutes and had the best game of his career, and hasn’t looked back since.
Since then, Wilson has arguably been the Bucks’ most consistent bench player on both ends, displaying versatile and suffocating defense and hitting 44 percent of his three-point attempts.
His shooting may grab the headlines, but what’s really caught my eye from Wilson has been his defense.
The potential for Wilson was pretty much always on the offensive end with his athleticism and shooting ability. But his defense, from stonewalling bigger forwards in the post to keeping up with guards by moving his feet, has been eye-opening.
Wilson’s versatility on the defensive end has made him more valuable than I would have ever thought he could be after last season.
He’s still only 22, practically a pup when it comes to the NBA and is on a rookie contract. He’s a former first round pick and is beginning to play like it.
Other NBA teams may not be as familiar and may not rate him as highly, but right now the argument can be made he’s the Bucks most valuable asset outside of the starting lineup.
That is something I never expected to be arguing.
He still has to show that he can perform this well over an entire season, but if he can even marginally keep it up, he could be a key piece for the Bucks moving forward, and a valuable asset.
7. George Hill
When it comes to the value of a trade asset, not everything is based on on-court performance, as I think I’ve made clear throughout these evaluations.
George Hill is the prime example of this. Hill, since being acquired by the Bucks via trade from Cleveland on December 7, has not exactly blown the doors off with his play.
Hill is shooting just 25 percent from deep in a Bucks uniform, which was one of the reasons Milwaukee wanted Hill.
So why is Hill ranked so highly, you ask? Well, it’s all about the contract.
Hill is owed $19 million this season and $18 million next season. A large sum for a 32-year-old point guard on the downslope of his career,
But, the key is the details. The final year of Hill’s contract is guaranteed for only $1 million until July 1, 2019. Which means he can be cut by a team and they’ll save $17 million.
Hill’s large but flexible contract means that he can be included in a trade with much larger contracts but won’t carry the financial long-term burden of most.
It’s a unique contract that makes him particularly valuable at the trade deadline.
Will the Bucks use Hill’s contract in a trade for a better player and bigger contract? Hard to say, but at the very least, acquiring Hill allowed the Bucks to shed longer-term contracts in Henson and Delly and save money for free agency in the future.
Another team, though, may be in the midst of making a large trade but doesn’t have the player contracts to make the money work, at which point the Bucks can enter the fray with Hill’s juicy contract and ask for another asset in return.
6. Thon Maker
By now, everyone knows that Thon Maker has asked the Bucks to trade him to another team. Normally, this would drive down a player’s value as it takes away the team’s leverage.
In this case, though, it doesn’t affect Maker’s value much and he remains the Bucks’ best asset outside of their starting five.
The crux of Maker’s trade demand is lack of playing time. Maker has appeared in just 35 games and averaged 11 minutes per game. He hasn’t played in six of the last nine games, all of them because of a coaching decision.
Simply put, he’s lost his spot in the rotation to Wilson, who came out of nowhere and is currently a better defender and shooter than Maker.
When Maker has played, he has performed a little better this year. He’s shooting better from the field and three-point range, and he’s scoring more per 36 minutes as well.
But it’s hard to gauge if the uptick in productivity is actually from Maker’s personal development or just the benefit of playing in Budnehozer’s system. Judging by the eye test, it’s more about Budenholzer than Maker.
It’s still true that Maker has loads of talent and potential. He’s tall, athletic, has a smooth-looking jumper, won’t turn 22 until February 22 and has three years of NBA experience already, including in the playoffs.
He’s also still on his rookie contract until the end of the next year, and a change of scenery, and more playing time and room to grow, could do wonders for Maker.
When Maker was drafted and was with the team for the first couple of years, he was developing more or less side-by-side with the Bucks team. This year, it seems as if the team has passed him by and it’ll be hard for him to see the court without a rash of injuries.
But, if Maker can’t get on the court, how is he to improve?
Another team, looking for young, cheap and hungry players to play during a rebuild, like perhaps the Memphis Grizzlies or New Orleans Pelicans post-Anthony Davis, should be willing to take a chance on Maker.
I wouldn’t expect any trade with Maker this season, with Lopez’s upcoming free agency and injuries to Ilyasova, but perhaps next season or in the summer Maker could get the trade he’s looking for.
5. Eric Bledsoe
Now that we’re into the starting lineup of the Bucks, things get interesting. With every starter for Milwaukee, besides Giannis, being able to become a free agent after this offseason, it’s tricky to gauge who has the most trade value.
After much deliberating and back and forth, I decided to go with Bledsoe at the No. 5 spot, essentially making him the least valuable starter for the Bucks.
I’m not saying Bledsoe isn’t good, I can even make the argument he’s the Bucks’ second-best player, but other factors decrease his trade value.
As mentioned, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent after this season. That immediately plummets Bledsoe’s value as most teams aren’t going to give up much for essentially a rental, as Bledsoe is likely to receive a pay-raise from someone this offseason.
A team could trade for Bledsoe with the intent of re-signing him, but Bledsoe is already 29 and in his ninth season. He’s not that old, but for a point guard whose best attribute is his athleticism, signing him to a contract that will mean paying him big money when he’s 32 or 33 and in his 12th or 13th season is a scary thought.
Bledsoe is still having a career year, posting a career-high in effective field goal percentage, despite shooting just 30 percent from the three-point line, and he is still a force on defense.
Bledsoe’s career year, though, also brings the question of whether it’s his own doing or from Budenholzer’s system. Would Bledsoe be as good without Budenholzer?
We saw Bledsoe last year and although he was good, he wasn’t nearly as efficient and collapsed in the playoffs.
Overall, Bledsoe is still a very good and important player for the Bucks, perhaps the team’s most important player outside of Giannis, but his contract and age drive down his value.
And honestly, the Bucks wouldn’t want to part with Bledsoe for anything less than a mega-deal, which another team is unlikely to offer anyway.
4. Brook Lopez
Normally, a center who is months away from turning 31, in the last year of his contract and in his 11th season, wouldn’t hold much trade value.
Centers age quickly, especially ones that measure in at seven-feet tall and 270 pounds. Brook Lopez, though, is not like other NBA centers.
Yes, Lopez is massive, but he shoots like a guard who is a foot shorter. This season, in Budenholzer’s offense, Lopez has jacked up over six three-pointers a game, hitting 39 percent of them.
Lopez’s full transformation into long-range sharpshooter has been one of the biggest stories of the season for the Bucks. With Lopez constantly bombing away from deep, he’s drawn centers out of the paint, allowing Giannis, Middleton, Bledsoe and Brogdon to attack the paint with ease.
But it’s not just Lopez’s shooting that’s made him so valuable. On defense, Lopez is the focal point of Budenholzer’s scheme, as guards aim to funnel ball-handlers toward the rim where Lopez is waiting to contest and swat any shot near him.
Lopez’s 2.7 blocks per 36 minutes is the best mark of his career, and it still doesn’t tell the whole story of how he affects the opposing offense. The Bucks give up the fewest shots at the rim in the league and instead allow opponents to take contested mid-range shots instead.
Without Lopez, the Bucks’ transformation on offense and defense into one of the best teams in the league would not have been possible, or at least nearly as effective.
Lopez is the rare 3-and-D center, chucking it from deep on offense and swatting shots on defense. There aren’t many players like Lopez in the NBA, and almost every team wants one.
That’s why despite Lopez being an unrestricted free agent this offseason and getting up there in age is still an extremely valuable asset for the Bucks.
He may not be as good as Bledsoe, but his skill-set is more unique and in high demand in today’s NBA.
3. Malcolm Brogdon
Malcolm Brogdon is another Bucks player whose trade value has shot up this season. After spending most of last season in a sixth man role, Budenholzer inserted Brogdon as a starter and Brogdon has rewarded the coach with his best season yet.
Brogdon is currently averaging a career-high 15 points per game on 51 percent shooting from the field, 41 percent from three and 95 percent from the free throw line, all of which are career-highs.
If Brogdon keeps at his pace, he’ll become just the eighth player in NBA player to post a 50-40-90 season.
Brogdon’s versatility also lends to his value, as he’s shown the ability to play either point guard or shooting guard with his ball-handling, facilitating, finishing around the rim and outside shooting.
Whatever is needed, Brogdon is capable of doing it.
The former Rookie of the Year is also about to enter free agency, which knocks his value down a little. Also, the fact that Brogdon is already 26, makes him relatively old for just a third-year player.
He may not get max-deal money, but practically every NBA team could use a Malcolm Brogdon on their team.
Brogdon is very nearly untouchable for the Bucks because of his comfortable fit next to Giannis. It would take a monster offer for the Bucks to willingly give him up.
2. Khris Middleton
Now we get to the Bucks’ latest All-Star, Khris Middleton. Since his early-season shooting slump, there has been a groundswell of Bucks fans who would like to see Middleton traded before the deadline instead of signing him to what will almost definitely be a max contract this offseason.
I am here to tell you those people are unfathomably, unequivocally stupid.
For all the talk that Middleton is having a down year, all the numbers point to Middleton having a career year. Middleton’s points, assists and rebounds per 36 minutes are all the best of his career, and he’s shooting better from deep than last season.
The only reason his per game and gross numbers are down is simply because he’s playing less, only 31 minutes per game, because the Bucks are blowing out more teams.
Middleton has also become the more modernized wing that fans have been hoping for in Budenholzer’s offense, shooting more three-pointers than ever in his career.
Of course, this still won’t satisfy some Middleton haters because they want him to be the next Klay Thompson, which Middleton never will be.
Plus, Middleton has plenty of playoff experience, including torching the Celtics for 24 points per game with an effective field goal percentage of 71 percent last year.
Middleton is a really good player. Period. He’s only 27 and is going to command a max-level contract offer in free agency because he is worth it.
His pending free agency may scare some teams away, but others would jump at the chance to have an inside track on signing Middleton. You don’t think a team like the Lakers or Knicks would open up the checkbook for Middleton?
It would take a substantive offer from any team for the Bucks to even consider trading away Middleton, and even then it would only be because they’re fairly certain they can’t re-sign him this summer.
I don’t see that happening as the Bucks understand the value that Middleton brings to the franchise, even if some fans don’t.
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo
Finally, we come to the big one. The No. 1 ranking couldn’t be anyone else but the Greek Freak.
The only question is if Giannis is not only the Bucks’ most valuable trade asset but the most valuable player in the entire league.
Once Anthony Davis became available there were rumblings that the Bucks offered any player on their team not named Giannis. Even for Anthony Davis, perhaps the most valuable player to become available via trade in years, Giannis is still off the table.
Is there any player that the Bucks would consider trading Giannis for straight-up? I don’t think so. Not even LeBron James or Kevin Durant.
Giannis is in position to win MVP before his 25th birthday and possibly lead the Bucks to the NBA Finals. Unless the Warriors are offering their entire lineup, Giannis is the most untouchable of the untouchables.
His dominance on both ends of the floor, and the fact that every year he only seems to get better, puts him in the upper-echelon of NBA talent. Factor in his age and team-friendly contract, and it doesn’t get any better than Giannis.
Giannis is an “if a team calls to ask about him the Bucks hang up and block the number” level of untouchable.
It’s Giannis’ team, Giannis’ franchise and Giannis’ city.