The Milwaukee Bucks moved on from Thon Maker and picked up Stanley Johnson in a trade on Wednesday afternoon, but was it a good move?
The Milwaukee Bucks reportedly agreed to move on from Thon Maker on Wednesday morning, with Stanley Johnson arriving from Detroit as the team’s latest gamble on a raw, young under-performer.
The trade was first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski:
"More from Bucks News Bucks 2023-24 player profile: Can MarJon Beauchamp take a leap? Piecing together the Milwaukee Bucks’ dream starting 5 in 5 years Predicting Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s 2023-24 stats for the Bucks Grade the trade: Bucks land reputable backup guard in swap with Pacers New workout video should have Milwaukee Bucks fans excited “The Detroit Pistons have agreed to trade forward Stanley Johnson to the Milwaukee Bucks for center Thon Maker, league sources told ESPN on Wednesday. The deal involving two former lottery picks is a chance for both young players to accelerate their careers in fresh environments.”"
As the Bucks continue their assault on the top of the Eastern Conference, it had become increasingly apparent that Maker did not feature in the team’s rotation, and by association, their long term plans.
Still, that didn’t take away from the sense of surprise at Maker’s decision to act definitively in requesting a trade away from Milwaukee in search of more minutes. It remains to be seen whether the Pistons will deliver on that front, but Maker has certainly got the chance for a fresh start.
Likewise, after failing to live up to his top-10 status in spite of regular flashes of potential, Johnson will be hoping a new opportunity, with a much better team, can help him to unlock all of his ability.
Does that make this a good deal for both sides? Let’s take a closer look at both players involved, and how they ended up at this point, to try to find out.
What the Bucks traded for
Let’s start with the concrete element of this rather than what the Bucks will hope they’ve traded for.
If nothing else, Johnson will act as a four-month flyer on a high potential player, who may also be better equipped to help the Bucks given their roster construction. If things pan out well during that short span, Johnson is a restricted free agent and the Bucks will have the option to retain him into the future.
It’s the option element in that which is really most important, though, considering Milwaukee’s more pressing free agency concerns. Facing up to all non Giannis Antetokounmpo starters hitting free agency, the Bucks could use all the cap savings they can find. Declining to extend a qualifying offer to Johnson would give the Bucks an extra $3.5 million of space to add to what was opened up with December’s dumping of Matthew Dellavedova and John Henson‘s salaries.
So, if nothing else, the Bucks have improved their cap flexibility slightly, rather than having a player who didn’t feature prominently in their plans eating into that cash.
Of course, Jon Horst and the Bucks’ key decision-makers will be hoping this deal can amount to more than that too.
Johnson was a highly touted prospect coming out of Arizona, as evidenced by his standing as the eighth overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. The Anaheim native, who was widely regarded as a five-star recruit coming out of high school, was viewed as a particularly intriguing prospect due to his physical tools.
Combining a well-rounded skill-set with a 6’7″, 240lbs frame, and a 6’11” wingspan ahead of the draft, Johnson screamed out potential defensive difference maker.
In reality, consistency has been an issue for Johnson since landing in the NBA, much like the player he was traded for. Johnson has certainly demonstrated the ability to make game-changing plays on the defensive end, and there’s no challenge that he will back down from — as he proved in his rookie season by guarding guarding LeBron James and trying to start a war of words with the league’s most famous player during a playoff series.
Still, it wouldn’t be fair to say Johnson is all bluster. Johnson’s reputation as a defender who rises to the challenge against the league’s best persisted among the Detroit media. Notably, considering the challenges that could lie ahead for the Bucks, one of the most significant instances on that front this season came as Johnson shut down Kawhi Leonard to ice a Pistons win over the Raptors back in November.
Providing his own comment on what Pistons coach Dwane Casey deemed to be “some of the best individual defense I’ve seen this year”, Ansar Khan of Michigan Live described Johnson’s contributions in closing out that game as follows:
"“Leonard scored 26 points, mostly while guarded by Reggie Bullock earlier in the game. Johnson matched up with Leonard in the fourth quarter, when the Raptors star committed five turnovers, the last one with two seconds remaining when he dribbled the ball off his foot with a chance to hit the winning shot.”"
Speaking of that game to Rod Beard of the Detroit News, Johnson, himself, revealed that Leonard is one of his favorite players and he believes he has a particularly strong feel for his game as a result:
"“I just try to play as hard as I can. In my eyes, he’s top two (among stars) in the NBA, a guy that I watch a lot. I try to model my game after him, so I guess I overwatch him.”"
Of course, Johnson’s story in Detroit was ultimately marked by his inability to bring that level of play on a nightly basis.
In particular, Johnson’s offense has struggled to show up even for impressive one-off performances. The 22-year-old may be the perfect modern NBA wing in so many ways, but in lacking any semblance of shooting ability he falls painfully short in his present form.
Johnson is a career 29.2 percent three-point shooter, and with 774 attempts behind him already, that can’t be chalked up to small sample size.
Perhaps the Bucks’ famed development staff can help Johnson improve on that front, while just as important might be a head coach who believes in him. Johnson spoke positively of his experience with Dwane Casey early in the season, having endured a rocky relationship with Stan Van Gundy in the past. If Budenholzer could help to boost Johnson’s confidence, maybe a better and more consistent player is waiting to be unleashed.
For the meantime, Johnson remains raw and potential-filled, while already possessing some traits that could get him on the court. As Detroit Bad Boys’ David Fernandez wrote last week, while declaring it was time for the Pistons and Johnson to go their separate ways:
"“[Johnson has] still got that all-NBA level of defense, and is one of the few guys you can feel confident in when he defends the Kawhi Leonards and LeBron James’ of the world (as confident as possible at least), but being a plus defender and disastrous net negative on offense is not sustainable in today’s NBA.”"
The Bucks have traded one project for another, and they’ll hope to get a little bit more out of this one in the months ahead.
What the Bucks traded away
The Bucks traded away all of the tantalizing skills, the relentless energy, and the sheer joy that Thon Maker has demonstrated when he’s taken to the floor for Milwaukee over the past two-and-a-half years.
They also traded away all of the dropped passes, misjudged defensive gambles, and ill-disciplined fouling that generally went hand-in-hand, counteracting any positive Maker plays.
Maker’s a complicated player, just as he was an immensely complicated prospect when the Bucks selected him and shocked the wider NBA with the 10th overall pick of the 2016 NBA Draft.
Considering how long it will be before the Bucks will have another pick of that caliber, and how well they’ve done with various other decisions in recent years, Milwaukee’s failure to land long-term pieces with Maker’s 10th pick and the second overall selection used on Jabari Parker will remain a source of frustration for many.
With this move, that is all officially consigned to the past, though. The same can be said for Maker’s playoff heroics. With the best record in the NBA approaching the All-Star break, the Bucks are out of the business of gallant playoff losses that were made more exciting by inconsistent role players.
In short, D.J. Wilson‘s consistency since cracking the rotation spelled the end for Maker on a Bucks team rapidly in need of disciplined and reliable contributors, as opposed to high-ceiling prospects capable of boom or bust performances.
Maker’s departure isn’t a cause for celebration, but it’s a pragmatic decision that shouldn’t cause any loss of sleep considering the Australian, himself, was the driver for change.
The fully realized version of Maker could still be a very valuable player, but two-and-a-half seasons into his stay with the Bucks, there was yet to be any evidence of that player ever actually emerging.
Trade motivation
Would Maker have been traded if not for his own slightly bizarre eagerness to push for a bigger role elsewhere? I’d guess not.
The Bucks may have explored deals as he was one of the less essential players on the roster at this point in the season, but the organization’s investment in and hopes for Maker always rang out as being as genuine as any team really can be in these situations.
Maker’s trade request officially marked the end of his playing time in a Milwaukee jersey, though, and with the move the Bucks now have some new opportunities opened up for them.
Ahead of a tough and undoubtedly expensive free agency period this summer, any cap saving is a victory for the Bucks. On that front, the chance to shed another $3.5 million, if they so choose, could prove significant in negotiations with their incumbent starters.
Beyond that, Johnson does still have upside. If a trade for Maker couldn’t offer an obvious contributor who was perfectly equipped to transform the Bucks right away, the next best thing was always going to be to seek out a similar prospect in a tough situation elsewhere.
This is a change of scenery deal on both sides, with the Pistons and Bucks both essentially hoping that the other just wasn’t the right team to develop their respective players.
If nothing else, Johnson offers the Bucks another strong wing capable of picking up brutal assignments in crucial games. Sign me up for a Johnson-Sterling Brown defensive bench tandem.
Overall trade grade
Honestly, I think it’s tough to feel anything other than largely apathetic about this deal on either side.
It’s entirely possible that one player will finally find their game while the other continues to flounder, and a clear winner in this deal could then emerge in time. In the now, though, it’s what could only be described as much of a muchness.
There’s no harm in either the Bucks or Pistons taking a flyer on a prospect with high potential, particularly as they’d essentially ran out of patience and opportunities for the players they parted with.
The Bucks didn’t need Maker, although a more consistent reserve big man may still be a welcome addition. Johnson adds something different to the bench wing corps, and his defense could ultimately win him minutes.
Having said that, with Tony Snell, Sterling Brown, Pat Connaughton and Donte DiVincenzo for bench competition, wing minutes may be tough to come by for Johnson. Unless the Bucks take a shining to lineups with Johnson at the 4, as Detroit tried from time to time, he may struggle to crack the rotation at all this season.
If that occurs, the Bucks will simply move on with their cap space and suffer no real loss. Until Johnson proves otherwise, though, only the slightest sense of positivity comes through in assessing the deal.
Grade: C+
What are your thoughts on the deal? Let us know in the comments below.