According to reports, the Milwaukee Bucks have dealt away Tony Snell and the 30th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Jon Leuer.
The 2019 NBA Draft is less than 24 hours away, but the Milwaukee Bucks will reportedly no longer be taking part in it.
First reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Bucks have dealt the 30th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft and veteran wing Tony Snell to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Jon Leuer.
Pistons are sending Jon Leuer to Bucks. Bucks are sending 30th pick on Thursday in deal too. https://t.co/IkzjIDPhFi
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 20, 2019
Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel confirmed Wojnarowski’s report of the deal moments later.
League source confirms Bucks are sending Tony Snell and the 30th pick to the Pistons for Jon Leuer.
— Matt Velazquez (@Matt_Velazquez) June 20, 2019
Of course, as all Bucks fans have been bracing for following the disappointing end to their 60-win season, it was made in mind with what’s looming ahead this summer.
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There were already rumblings earlier this week that the Bucks were exploring moves to offload either Snell or fellow veteran Ersan Ilyasova to gain cap relief as Marc Stein over at the New York Times reported.
In the end, it was Snell that ended up departing and the Pistons will take on the rest of his contract as two years and $24 million are left on the deal, though Snell holds a player option for the 2020-2021 year.
The relief the Bucks gain by acquiring Leuer isn’t all that much on the surface as he’s under contract for next season at close to $10 million. However, there’s the possibility that the Bucks may look to explore stretch Leuer’s remaining salary as Bucks blogfather Frank Madden pointed out, which would help them with what’s to come:
Next question is whether they’ll stretch Leuer to open up an additional $6.3m. https://t.co/Qrbih5whlJ
— Frank Madden (@fmaddenNBA) June 20, 2019
What’s to come is an incredibly expensive offseason with the number of Bucks players that are about to hit free agency and it’s fitting that the deal occurred on the day that the team’s All-Star swingman Khris Middleton officially declined his player option for next season.
With the former Aggie set to field a max contract, the Bucks will also have to retain two of their other regular starters who are set to get big pay days between Malcolm Brogdon and Brook Lopez, though it should be noted Brogdon will be a restricted free agent (the Bucks, on the other hand, don’t have Lopez’s bird rights, which will require a little more work on their part to retain him).
The hits don’t stop there as Nikola Mirotic will be hitting free agency as well after being acquired on the day of this year’s trade deadline and George Hill will likely be waived before his $18 million salary for next season guarantees on July 1.
Needless to say, the Bucks are going through the margins to open any and all cap room they can find to retain the majority of their pending free agents and as a result, Snell became a cap casualty as did their first round pick.
Although there will be plenty more to discuss on the move over the coming days and weeks, we bid goodbye to Snell now that his three years in Milwaukee have come to a close. Best of luck in Detroit, Tony!