Milwaukee Bucks: Grades for Robin Lopez’s two-year, $9.7 million deal

Overall grade

Moving on from Malcolm Brogdon only a couple of weeks after trading away Tony Snell leaves the Bucks with something of a hole at shooting guard, which had been a position of great strength for Milwaukee last season. Sterling Brown, Pat Connaughton and Donte DiVincenzo remain as options to play at that position, but they represent a sizable step down from what Brogdon offered.

With that considered, the Bucks could have looked to use this contract on a player who would have been a more obvious option to shore up a somewhat vacant spot in the starting lineup. Someone like Wesley Matthews would have been an obvious target. Instead, they’ve opted for Lopez to cover an area where they possessed no depth at all.

It’s tough to tell if that was the right decision at this point, particularly as the Bucks may yet be able to land a capable wing on a veteran minimum deal. What can be said, though, is there’s nothing wrong with signing a player of Lopez’s caliber at this price.

Lopez is a veteran who possesses the kind of mindset and personality that has been conducive to building great chemistry and a winning team in Milwaukee to this point, and there’s every reason to believe he’ll be able to make meaningful on-court contributions for the Bucks next season.

With all due respect, this isn’t signing a hobbled, post-prime Pau Gasol to be the team’s primary backup big. There’ll likely still be 10-15 teams where Lopez would be good enough to start next season, and instead the Bucks will have him as a real luxury to make an impact in 15-20 minutes a night.

This deal may ultimately be judged by how the Bucks cope with Brogdon’s absence, and the kind of deals that established veteran wings take over the remainder of the market. But taken at face value as a much-needed injection of depth at center, and putting aside the opportunity cost for now, it would be tough to ask for much more than Lopez at this price.

BTBP Final Grade: B+