Moving forward
While continuing to hone his game will undoubtedly be the focus over his entire offseason, the biggest point of discussion involving Snell this summer may be ways the Bucks look to expedite his departure for financial reasons.
Under his current deal, Snell has two years remaining under his contract and is owed $22 million over that span, which currently makes him the third-highest paid player on the team.
Of course, that latter note won’t stand that way for long with the number of free agents the Bucks have this summer, the majority of them being core players and whom they’ll certainly look to retain. With the likes of Malcolm Brogdon, Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez most certainly commanding hefty raises, the Bucks’ ownership will be forced to go into the luxury tax if they’re truly committed to the contending window they’re operating within at the moment.
But finding ways to lighten up that potential tax bill will likely be something the Bucks’ front office explores and getting off Snell’s remaining money and overall contract looks to be a prime move to do so.
Milwaukee has certainly enough cover to go forward with dealing Snell, considering the number of wings and/or off-guards they have under contract between Sterling Brown, Pat Connaughton and Donte DiVincenzo. And it’s not like Snell was an essential player within their depth chart by the end of the season and playoff run either.
This is plenty of projection and it’s far from guaranteed that the Bucks would be successful in their potential pursuit to jettison Snell as they’ll have to sweeten up trade talks with some sort of draft compensation to grease the wheels. As we all know, though, Bucks general manager Jon Horst has already shown a track record for doing salary dump deals with the move to send both Matthew Dellavedova and John Henson to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for George Hill being the big example.
Milwaukee’s offseason is already one to watch as all Bucks fans know and moving Snell, especially ahead of the start of free agency, may signal just what could come this summer.
BTBP Final Grade: C+
Our season reviews will continue over the next couple of weeks as we work our way through every player on the Bucks’ roster.