Milwaukee Bucks: Grades for Eric Bledsoe’s four-year, $70 million extension
By Adam McGee
Fit
When the Bucks traded for Bledsoe, all of the analysis in the deal’s immediate aftermath was centered squarely on the topic of shooting.
Bledsoe is just a 33.4 percent career three-point shooter, making him far from an obvious fit alongside Antetokounmpo. In the time since that deal, though, the Bucks have demonstrated that spacing doesn’t have to be an issue in a team built around those two players.
A big part of that has come from Milwaukee finding outstanding shooting, in both volume and efficiency, in a less traditional form through Brook Lopez, but across the roster, the Bucks have no shortage of shooters either.
What that team-building approach has done is free up Bledsoe to prove his basketball intelligence allows him to fit in anywhere. On top of that, Bledsoe has built up great chemistry with his teammates.
Notably, and understandably, unhappy about his situation in his previous stops in the NBA, Bledsoe has been vocal about his comfort and contentedness in Milwaukee. He’s built a particularly close bond with Middleton, while the all-important relationship with Antetokounmpo also looks strong both on and off the court.
Bledsoe will always need some help from his general manager in ensuring he’s surrounded with the right types of players, but as long as that’s the case, there’ll be no concern about his fit.